


PenPals - A Hijack Fanfic

by OrbManson7



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Modern AU, penpal au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-18 20:36:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1442005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrbManson7/pseuds/OrbManson7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>PenPal!AU. Hiccup and Jack have never met. They don't even live on the same continent, but after their schools set them up as pen pals for a project, an instant connection is made. Rated for language, Icelandic swear words, and mild action. SPOILERS FOR HTTYD2! (nothing beyond what we know from the trailers and some fan-interpretation of the first hour) Please R&R.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Great Pretender

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: (PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE STORY)
> 
> Hey, guys-Orb here. I don't normally do pre-story notes like this, but I have some info that you may want to know before you start getting into this absolutely AMAZING fanfic.
> 
> First of all, it's Hijack, so the story meshes together the RotG and HTTYD universes and Hiccup and Jack are obviously going to have a thing for each other as that IS the primary (and probably ONLY) pairing in this fanfic. If that sort of thing bugs you, now is your chance to skedaddle out of here and find something else to read.
> 
> Second, the story is going to be about two people who live on separate continents with limited interaction, which means that the character POV will likely change per chapter. For example, one will be all in Jack's POV, then the next will be in Hiccup's POV.
> 
> Third, part of this story involves characters living in another country and NOT SPEAKING ENGLISH. While the chapters featuring Hiccup's POV will obviously be written in English, try to understand that they are not actually speaking in that language. There will be a few Icelandic terms thrown about here and there, so keep an eye out for them.
> 
> I think that should about wrap up all that needs to be said for now. I hope you enjoy this AU and the story I have written with a lot of help from Panbelacqua and a few others! Thank you so much for taking time to read it!
> 
> P.S. - Chapter titles probably won't have any significance; it's just the song I'm listening to at the time I start to write the chapter.
> 
> I do not own rights to any of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**PenPals - A Hijack Fanfiction**

* * *

**Chapter One - The Great Pretender**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 2863**

**Warnings: None this chapter**

* * *

_Jack's POV_

* * *

On any other day, Jack wouldn't be caught dead smiling in a school, especially Burgess High, and certainly not on the first day of the school year. But today was different, because he had a plan. Today, Jack Overland waltzed right through those double-doors with a determined grin on his face and a brand new hairdo on his head. Gone were the copper locks and dull, square spectacles, now replaced with spiky hair that was a glistening, pure white and his blue eyes were free of any glasses thanks to some brand new contacts.

Yes, this was going to do just the trick! This was finally going to get him noticed. His plan was foolproof-it had to be.

Jack stepped inside, several students already wandering about the halls, mapping out their schedules and getting reacquainted with their friends. He spotted a few girls from his grade and walked over, the false sense of confidence faltering only slightly as the seconds ticked on and no one had yet to look his way.

Stopping right in front of the three teenaged girls-all of which were texting on their smartphones-he readjusted the strap on his shoulder and smirked, remarking,

"Well, good morning, ladies!"

Two of the girls continued texting on their phones, but the third glanced up. Jack grinned, but she suddenly shot a hand up in the air, shouting,

"Oh, hey, Johnny!"

She waved and brushed right past Jack and over to the letter-jacketed guy strolling in behind him.

Jack's grin fell, but he was determined not to give up. He spun around, planning to take off down the hall, but just as he did, another student slammed right into him, knocking both of them to the ground with a clatter. The students' heavy textbook flew right into Jack's face and Jack fell onto his clumpy backpack as he connected with the ground.

"Hey!" Jack shouted in response, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "It took me all summer to get used to these dumb contacts!"

But as he glared at him, the student merely got to his feet and scrambled back down the hall without an apology, let alone an acknowledgement of Jack's existence.

Jack sighed dejectedly, staying seated on the cold, tiled floor as the other students walked around him, talking with one another.

Well, so much for that stupid plan...

"Jack?" A booming voice sounded behind him. "What are you doing on floor?"

Jack looked over his shoulder and up at the enormous man who'd just walked over.

"Oh, hey, North," he replied. "I'm just...you know, contemplating how pointless life is. That sort of thing."

North chuckled and held out a massive and tattooed arm out to him. Jack grabbed it with a pout and stood up.

"Did plan fall through again?" North questioned.

Jack glared up at him, remarking,

"What do you think?"

He grumbled incoherently as he dusted himself off and pulled his backpack over his shoulder again.

"I thought for sure this would do it," he whined. "But, I mean, after the talent show in eighth grade, the basketball tryouts my freshman year, and that stunt in the Homecoming parade last fall...I should have  _known_  nothing'd be different! It doesn't matter what I do, I'm  _still_  invisible!"

North frowned, sympathetically placing a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Maybe this plan will work after all? Maybe you must give it time first, yeah?"

"I doubt it," Jack sighed. He shrugged away from him, turning around. The majority of the students that were once roaming the halls had disappeared, leaving only a few stragglers behind that had yet to find their homeroom.

Jack glanced back at North.

"I'll see you at lunch?" he offered quietly.

North smiled,

"Of course, of course."

The bell for classes to start rang through the empty halls, and North deadpanned.

"Ah, I must get back to office!" He exclaimed, rushing back down the hall. He looked back at Jack, briefly telling him, "You best get to class, Jack. Bunny does not like to wait!"

Jack shook his head,

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going..." He told him, and turned down the hallway.

* * *

Jack pulled open the door to his homeroom class. As usual, no one seemed to even notice. The teacher, Mr. Bunnymund, stared over at him as he walked in. He rolled his eyes and stepped over, handing Jack a pink piece of paper.

"Really, Bunny?" Jack groaned. "You already wrote me up?"

"We left the house at the same time," Bunnymund retorted. "So, you got no excuse for bein' late."

Jack mimicked the last sentence with disdain under his breath as he shrugged off his bag and sat down at his desk.

"How about you go suck an egg, Rabbit?" Jack grumbled, slumping forward on the desk.

"How about I give you detention on the first day o' school?" Bunnymund instantly shot back, walking to stand right in front of him.

Jack glanced up at him, and Bunnymund glared down at him.

"Don't think I won't, boy," he warned.

Jack gave him a fake smile in return. He would never admit it, but Bunnymund could be rather intimidating when he really wanted to be. And he definitely wanted to be right then.

Jack sat up in his chair and pretended to look attentive. Bunnymund, unconvinced, turned back around and walked back to the front of the classroom.

* * *

Jack slumped his way down the hall toward his next class, Language 11. He rubbed at his eye again, trying to avoid the small burning feeling that had built up since that morning. And by 'burning', he obviously meant his contacts were bothering him again and not that he felt like crying, because that wouldn't be true in the slightest. No, that'd be ridiculous. It wasn't like he had only two years left of high school and he hadn't yet to make a single friend…at least not one his own age. Now, he considered plenty of his little sister's friends to be his, as well, but as much fun he had with them, it was just weird that he didn't hang out with any of his own peers.

Jack turned the knob to the classroom and opened the door.

Before he stepped in, he let out a pathetic sigh.

"Oh, hey!" he heard as he entered. "Nice hair, is that-"

Jack shot a glare at the person standing behind the teacher's desk.

"Shut up, Tooth," he growled, and then narrowed his eyes, adding, "North told you to say that, didn't he?"

The woman standing in the empty classroom gave a mock gasp and folded her arms over her chest.

" _Geez Louise_ ," she called. "That's the last time I try to help  _you_  with anything."

Jack simply rolled his eyes and walked over to the desk before coming to a halt abruptly. He turned and eyed the woman a moment as she turned around and picked up a piece of chalk and started writing "Dr. Toothania" in large, cursive letters on the blackboard.

"Wait… What are you doing here? In Lang 11?" he questioned. "Are you subbing  _already_? On the first day?"

Tooth glanced back with a sheepish grin.

"Well, it turns out Mr. Brookheimer is still on vacation," she explained. " _Supposedly_ , he had a surfing accident and 'hurt his leg'."

Jack stifled a laugh, remarking,

"I see. Just like last year's skiing accident where he 'injured his back'?"

"I guess so," Tooth giggled in response. She placed the chalk back in the tray and turned around.

"That guy…" Jack shook his head with a laugh as he set his backpack on one of the desks in the front row. He looked over as the door opened and a few students came in. They scurried to the very back of the classroom, chatting quietly.

"So," Jack continued, looking back at Tooth, "then what are we doing until he gets back?"

Tooth smiled, her teeth sparkling as usual, and picked up a stack of papers off the desk in front of her.

"Oh, don't worry," she replied. "We've got important stuff to talk about."

Jack raised an eyebrow in confusion, asking,

"We  _do_?"

Tooth gave another mock gasp and pouted,

"You know, the 'pen pal' project I told you about!"

Jack sank back, sitting on top of one of the desks. Of course; how could he even attempt to have forgotten? Tooth wouldn't shut up about her new pet project for even one minute over the summer.

"Oh, yeah…" he feigned remembering. "The whole 'talking to foreign strangers for a whole year' thing. Can't wait…"

Tooth noted the sarcasm in his voice and gave him a playful glare.

"Oh, hush," she told him. "I know you'll like it!"

"You say that about  _every_  one of these little projects you set up," Jack remarked. Well, it was true!

Tooth set the papers back down on the desk and placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, you're definitely gonna like this one!" she demanded sternly. "I can _feel_  it!"

Jack snickered, adding,

"...in your belly?"

Tooth attempted to hold back a smile, but failed. She burst out in giggles and Jack grinned before he finally started laughing with her. She looked away, waving at him to stop. A couple more students walked in, finding their seats and seeming to just ignore the giggle-fest going on at the front of the classroom.

"Just go sit in your seat, will you?" Tooth finally managed to squeak out.

Jack took a deep breath and stood up, walking around to sit in the chair to his desk and scooting his backpack to the floor.

He was a bit interested in the pen pal idea at first, much like most of Tooth's other projects, but as time went on over the summer, Jack began to doubt anything would be different this time. Tooth always tried to pitch some educational reasoning behind each of these ideas, but he knew that she'd been trying nearly as hard as he was to just get him some friends. But, every year, it would fall through and end in disaster. The Marsville base would pop, the potted plant would get left outside too long and die, the egg would break, his partner would forget to show up. He'd heard every excuse in the book by now, and he dreaded the inevitable apology that would come from Tooth at the end of this year, just like every year, because it was going to go wrong. It always did, and Jack was convinced it always would.

The bell rang and Jack rested his head in his hand. No matter what he knew would happen, he would have to pretend to be excited about this new project. Why? Because Tooth was almost like his sister-other than his actual sister-and he couldn't let her think she was doing anything wrong. And, really, she wasn't. She was trying, and that was more than Jack could ever hope for from her or any of the boarders. He never asked for help, but Tooth would always offer it. He never asked for a break, but Bunny would always know when to lay off. He'd never go to North for advice, but he'd always bring it when he needed it most. Even Sandy was always sympathetic, regardless of the fact that he never actually said anything. And Manny… well, North assured him that he cared, but he never really talked to Jack because he was "too busy," but whatever. The point was he could always find what he needed in that rickety, old boarding house he shared with far too many teachers, a school board director, a principal, and a dentist...who also happened to be a substitute teacher. Oh, and his sister, Emma, of course.

Jack sank back in his chair as Tooth started class. He may not have had any friends, but at least he had a family. So, there was that.

* * *

"Now, each student in the eleventh grade will be assigned a student from any number of European countries," Tooth explained, looking down at the papers on the desk, sorting through a stack of brochures and moving around the the front of the desk. "Oh, isn't that exciting?!" she suddenly squealed. "There's so many to choose from! Why, there's France, and Germany, ooh, and Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Norway-"

Jack cleared his throat, and leaned forward on his desk before asking,

"Hey, teach, could you just get to the 'assigning' part?"

Tooth giggled, replying,

"Oh, silly me… Sure thing, Jack."

She turned back and grabbed the stack of pamphlets off the desk and held them up.

"Now, these little pamphlets each have a card in them," she explained. She walked down the aisles of desks around the room, depositing a pamphlet on each students' desk as she passed them. "The pamplet will describe the country and school your penpal is attending. The card will have their name, age, gender-that sort of thing."

Jack took the brochure as she handed one to him and looked down at it. He furrowed his eyebrows, commenting,

"This isn't in English."

Tooth spun around and smiled, remarking,

"Very _observant_ , Jack!"

Her voice wavered, emphasizing the sentence in a way that made it all sound odd. Jack cringed, glancing over and muttering,

"Please stop saying my name like that."

Tooth turned to the class and clapped her hands together.

"Did anyone else notice the different languages on your pamphlets?" She announced. "That's your first assignment, to figure out which language your pen pal will be using to contact you."

A number of irritated groans and annoyed whispers sounded from all the students around Jack. Some idiot in the back cried out,

"Wait, they don't speak English?"

Jack face-palmed. Somebody must have just woken up, huh?

"There are several languages used all around the world," Tooth replied boldly, "and it'll be your job this year to learn a new one!"

The same voice in the back sounded again, repeating,

"So...they don't speak English?"

Tooth's smile fell.

"...no," she replied, her enthusiasm having dissipated.

Jack sat up. Can't these people at least pretend to be interested, like he was doing?

"How are we supposed to write to them if they don't know English?" Another student asked.

Tooth instantly perked up, smiling as she responded,

"All of you will write your messages in English, and your pen pals will write their corresponding messages in their native language."

She leaned back against the teacher's desk, continuing,

"When you receive your letter, it'll be your job to translate the message correctly so that you can communicate with your pen pal properly. And they will be doing the same by learning your native language-English!"

"Are we getting graded on this?"

"Can we just use Google?"

The questions started coming from all over the room.

"Uhh, well," Tooth replied, "you won't be graded on accuracy. It's just your job to make contact once a week during the first semester, once a month over the second semester."

She stood back up and grinned widely, adding,

"And then, in May, we can have a little presentation about the country your pen pal is from, the language they speak, and what you learned about them as a person."

Jack blinked. He could have sworn he saw Tooth wink at him at that last line.

"Can we keep in touch after the school year's over?" A girl asked from right behind Jack.

Tooth smiled wide.

"Oh, yes! Of course!" She told them, "The project will be done through your school e-mail, so if you want to contact them at the end of the year and use your personal e-mail, that's perfectly okay!"

"What about Skype?" Another girl from across the room asked.

Tooth opened her mouth to reply, but stopped short and closed it again, biting her lip. She glanced over at Jack and whispered to him,

"...Jack, what's Skype?"

Jack rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"It's the video chat thing that makes the bubbly noises," he told her, giving her a look that clearly said 'your age is showing'.

Tooth gasped as she recalled what Jack assumed was that time he showed her the app on his computer that he always turned on but never used.

"Ohhh!" Tooth responded, "Oh, right! Yes! Oh, that'd be great for final presentations, meeting your pen pal face-to-face over the World Wide Web! How exciting!"

Jack let out a laugh at her reaction.

"Just can't wait to get started," he said with as little sarcasm as possible.

Tooth jumped up, hands clapping together one last time, and smiled, saying,

"Ooh, then let's head over to the media center and get set up, shall we?"

Jack listened to the clattering of students getting out of their seats, books closing, desks moving. He glanced down at the pamphlet in his hands. The red, white, and blue flag at the top was somewhat reassuring, but as he opened the brochure and read the small card inside, his frown returned.

"Hiccup? What kind of name is Hiccup?"

* * *


	2. Count Me In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> I was so surprised to learn that so many of you enjoyed the first chapter. That really kicked my motivation into gear, so I quickly got to work on the second chapter so it'd be ready for you all to read as soon as possible. And here it is! Haha!
> 
> So, thanks so much for the feedback, everyone! You really made my night!
> 
> Now, a quick reminder on this chapter-the characters are not speaking English, but it is written that way. It may seem odd to say this, but it will become important later on, trust me!
> 
> Also, my plan is to try and update at least once a week with this fanfic, so feel free to message and bug me if I fall behind. That's usually all I need to get back on it. And if you read Stupid Love, or are still waiting for the final chapter of Relax, don't worry; they will be updated soon, as well.
> 
> That's it for today, so I hope you enjoy this new chapter! :)
> 
> I do not own rights to any of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**PenPals -Chapter Two**

* * *

**Chapter Two - Count Me In**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 2363**

**Warnings: Mild language, Icelandic swear words**

* * *

_Hiccup's POV_

* * *

The first day of school had finally arrived. Hiccup shoved his hands in his coat pockets, head down as he stopped at the corner of the street for a truck to pass by. As the cloud of exhaust cleared, Hiccup sauntered across the road, his metallic foot scratching across the pavement with every other step. He reached the other sidewalk and only glanced down for a moment to make sure he didn't bump into the curb again. Stepping onto the sidewalk safely, he looked up with a grin. He started walking straight ahead, on a direct path for the old, square building only another block away.

Despite the lack of sun that morning, Hiccup was certain it was going to be a bright day. Today was the first day of his third year of secondary school, after all, and that meant he only had to stay in the dark, desolate, dreary village of Berk another year and a half until he was home-free. He had already set up a calendar at home to count down the exact number of days. There were only 354 left after today, if he remembered correctly…

Another stop at a street corner, a quick check to make sure no one was coming, and he crossed the road.

"Hey, Hiccup!" He heard someone shout from ahead, and he looked up to see his blonde-haired best friend walking down the sidewalk from the opposite direction. He grinned, but just as he pulled his hand out of his pocket to wave back, his prosthetic caught on the curb, and he flew forward, smacking right onto the cement ground below.

He grunted, pushing himself up enough to sit on his knees. He glanced back as he heard a roar of laughter from behind.

"Watch it,  _Hiccup_!" Snotlout jeered, crossing the same street with ease and walking right past him. "Don't wanna lose your other leg, do you?"

He eyed the twins as they snorted and snickered, following behind Snotlout as he passed him.

Hiccup merely rolled his eyes as Astrid rushed to his side, offering a hand to help him up. Hiccup grimaced and stumbled to his feet, limping down the sidewalk enough to place a hand on the wall and straighten himself back out. He stared down at the metal prosthetic, mumbling,

"You lose  _one foot_ , and you never hear the end of it…"

Astrid shrugged, standing next to him.

"Forget about them," she told him. "He doesn't know how hardcore you really are."

Hiccup cracked a smile at that.

"Oh, is _that_  what I am?" he smirked.

* * *

The two walked from the frigid cold into the warm school building, the florescent lights flickering overhead as they made their way down the hall and into the first room on the right.

Astrid leaned over, flicking on the lights, and the classroom lit up. She grinned until she looked back at Hiccup, finally seeing him in the light.

"Whoa," she exclaimed, "you look like crap."

Hiccup gave her a playful glare.

"Why, thank you, Astrid," he replied, his every word laced in his typical sarcasm. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear this morning."

She shrugged in response, and pulled off her coat. The two of them walked to the back of the classroom, finding their old cubbies to put away their stuff. As Hiccup took off his coat, the twins and Snotlout walked into the room, as well, still laughing.

"So, rough night?" Astrid asked Hiccup, hanging up her coat and opening her bookbag.

"Eh, it'll pass," Hiccup replied, running a hand through his hair. He certainly hoped she was joking about how bad he really looked. "Whether you believe it or not, I  _am_  actually excited for this year."

"Well, I guess I got to pretend to be as chipper as you, then, huh?" Astrid smirked, turning back around.

Hiccup laughed, replying,

"Fake it 'til you feel it, Astrid."

They both made their way to the front of the classroom, sitting in the open seats waiting for them. Hiccup glanced back as a couple more students walked into the room.

"I mean, we only got one year left, right?" Astrid continued, keeping the small talk going.

"Maybe  _you_  do," Hiccup remarked, turning back to face the front of the room.

"You're still gonna do that apprenticeship thing next year?" Astrid questioned, leaning forward on her desk.

Hiccup sat back, replying,

"That's the plan, yeah."

"Well, whatever. You go right ahead and do that. I'll be busy going to UI, like a normal person."

" _You_?  _Normal_?" he let out a quick laugh. "No…"

Astrid reached over and punched his shoulder.

"Shut up," she told him.

He rubbed his shoulder in pain a moment before scooting down in his seat.

"Haha, so…" he paused, trying to think of what to say next. "I heard we were starting that 'foreigner letters' thing today."

"It's called being a pen pal," Astrid corrected. "And, yes, we are."

A clank of metal sounded from the doorway and Hiccup grinned. That must be Gobber…

He glanced back over his shoulder to see the gruff man stagger into the classroom, not stopping at the back because he wasn't even wearing a coat. Gobber made his way to the front of the classroom, setting down a stack of papers on the empty desk next to Hiccup's without a word.

Hiccup turned back to Astrid, his grin still on his face as he challenged,

"1,000 krona says your pen pal's favorite color is pink and they love horses or some shit."

Astrid laughed out loud, and then put up a hand to cover her mouth.

"Heh," she smirked back at him. "1,800 says you end up with one of those morons with their pants hanging around their knees and all that stupid 'bling' around their neck."

Hiccup shook his head, replying,

"Ha, you're on."

* * *

"Alright, let's get started…" Gobber's voice boomed and the classroom grew silent. "I'm supposed ta give you all these pamphlets."

He grabbed the stack of papers from the desk again and held them up to his face to check the names written on them.  
"Ehh, Fishlegs," he called out. The teen stood up, knocking his desk forward a bit in the motion.

"You can read these better than me," he told him. "You hand 'em out."

Fishlegs rushed up to the front of the room and took the stack of brochures from him and began handing them out.

Astrid eyed hers before glancing at the one in Hiccup's hand. Frowning, she remarked,

"They're all from the same state."

Gobber shrugged, taking a step back.

"Yes, well," he replied, "Americans are lazy. What can I say?"

A couple of laughs came from the back of the room, and Hiccup swore he heard the twins say something along the lines of "no surprise there."

"We talked about this last year, so you all know what the point of this little project is-" Gobber spoke up as Fishlegs sat back in his seat after all the pamphlets were handed out. "-to connect you with someone from a different culture, open your eyes to the way the world is, all that nonsense."

"It sure  _sounds_  like nonsense…" Astrid scoffed in response, resting her chin in her hand. Hiccup gave her a sympathetic look, but his thoughts disagreed with her. This was bound to be a very important project, for all of them. They'd not only learn a new language, but they'd get a taste of what it's like outside of Iceland and Scandinavia. Maybe they'd enjoy this project, and Hiccup would be able to finally convince Astrid to come with him to America after they graduate? Or maybe she'd dismiss it all over again, like she did for the past two years...

"Now, everyone will have to work a bit on picking up English," Gobber continue, lackadaisically leaning against the whiteboard behind him. "The language is a mess, I'm telling you. But, once you get the gist of it, it'll help you out in the real world. Apparently, you're supposed to start with the pamphlets. And don't ask me fer help, I barely know any damn English myself."

Astrid leaned over, whispering to Hiccup,

"Shouldn't you be excluded from this? You already  _know_  English."

Hiccup folded his arms over his chest and laid them on his desk.

"So?" he responded, whispering back. "I'll put in the same effort as everybody else."

"Except you already know what your pen pal is saying."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, glancing over at her and remarking,

"You had your chance to pick up Shakespeare when I did, so just suck it up."

"So…" Gobber spoke up again, eyeing the two, whispering chatterboxes in front of him a moment before continuing, "I guess the plan is for each o' you to give a presentation about your pen pal near the end of the year, talk about whatcha learned 'bout the country, the language, and all that."

"It's  _America_ ," Snotlout sneered from the back of the room. "What more is there to learn?"

"Trust me," Gobber sighed. "You'd be surprised."

Fishlegs turned back in his seat, looking back at Snotlout.

"Yeah, it's a whole country with its own, unique history and culture," he explained excitedly. "There's actually a whole lot we can learn in a year!"

Snotlout snorted, immediately remarking,

"And I'm pretty sure that I don't care."

Hiccup looked down at the pamphlet in his hand. The small picture depicted a large high school and an American flag swaying in the wind with a filled parking lot, several students walking about, and a block of businesses and neon signs littering the background. It was exactly how Hiccup pictured America to be-the exact opposite of how it was in Berk.

He could feel the excitement from this morning starting to sink in again. This pen pal project would prove to be useful, after all.

He flipped the brochure over, asking on impulse,

"So, we have to do a presentation...in front of the class...about our pen pal  _and_  the States?"

Hiccup glanced back up to see Gobber's unamused expression as he replied,

"That is what I just said, isn't it?"

Hiccup deadpanned. Yeah, he probably should've been listening a bit more closely.

"Yeah,  _Hiccup_ ," Snotlout mocked, his tone similar to the one he had earlier. The twins snickered, sitting in the desks next to his.

Astrid shot a glare back at him, turning in her seat.

"Oh,  _har, har_ ," she sarcastically remarked. "You're  _so_  funny, Snotlout."

"Well, I'm always happy to make you laugh, Astrid," Snotlout spoke directly to her, his demeanor changing from taunting to flirting instantly. "It's a personal goal of mine, in fact."

Astrid turned back around, looking at Hiccup before making a face, pretending to stick a finger down her throat, and fake-gagging.

" _Hálfviti_ ," she muttered with a smirk.

Hiccup chuckled quietly, before Gobber smacked a hand on his desk, shouting,

"Would ya lot quit that?"

The room went silent again and Gobber stood back up, gritting his teeth before continuing,

"Take out those crummy computers and let's get this over with."

Hiccup reached down for his bag, pulling out the thin laptop stashed inside. All the students had received one upon entering secondary school; apparently, there was a request sent out that Berk needed more technology in the classroom, so they gave all the teenagers their own computers. Granted, that was only about twenty students at the most, so it wasn't like it was a terribly expensive request to fill.

"Sending e-mails over the internet," Fishlegs whined. "It just seems to pull the sentiment out of it all."

Astrid looked back at him as her computer started up, remarking,

"Would you rather have to write everything out by hand?"

"And wait for the mail to be sent all the way across the Atlantic and back again?" Hiccup tacked on.

Fishlegs grimaced.

"Okay," he conceded, "maybe e-mail doesn't seem so bad after all."

"It would be nice if we could at least talk to people from more than just Burgess and..." Astrid leaned back and snatched the brochure off Fishlegs' desk. "Eastbale?"

"I think it's East _vale_ , actually," Fishlegs corrected, taking his brochure back and setting it down neatly next to his laptop.

"The pamphlet says the school has over 2,000 students in the same school," Hiccup commented nonchalantly, logging into his computer.

Astrid's eyes went wide and she grabbed her own pamphlet again, looking at the gibberish language scrawled all over it, replying,

"Seriously? That's, like,  _ten times_  the people we even have in town!"

"I know, isn't it neat?" Fishlegs replied enthusiastically.

Hiccup smiled. It  _was_  neat. This pen pal-this new acquaintance-was a gateway to the rest of the amazing world out there. This was his chance to get his foot in the door...the door that led out of Berk and into America. A whole year of taking in American culture and making a new friend along the way. That was more than enough to appease Hiccup.

He opened his school e-mail account and glanced back at the name on the card in his pamphlet.

"And it all starts with Jack."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Hálfviti = Moron
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, everyone!
> 
> Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you thought!
> 
> And, like I said, the plan with this fic is to update once a week, so be sure to check back in by next Friday! :)


	3. The Meaning of Lonely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> I just want to thank the Hijack fandom for being awesome and everyone who really supports this story, like Lebistole and Panbelacqua. You guys keep me going strong, especially when I get lost on what the heck to write next. Thank you so, so much! And, again, I am SO SORRY that this chapter is late, but I will have the fourth chapter up by Friday, as promised! I WILL make this a regular thing!
> 
> I do not own rights to any of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**PenPals - Chapter Three**

* * *

**Chapter Three - The Meaning of Lonely**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 3137**

**Warnings: Slight angst, Bunnymund being a meanie to Jack**

* * *

_Jack's POV_

* * *

Jack adjusted the strap of his backpack, the weight of his new textbooks making it heavier than he truly thought was necessary. He walked along the sidewalk, his eyes staring at the ground in front of him during most of his trek. He glanced up at every intersection he passed, but after a while, he finally met up with the crowds and just flowed with them.

The group of adults all crossed the next street and he noticed three kids in brightly-colored jackets rush through them, running across the crosswalk in the opposite direction.

Jack looked back up as he reached the curb and the elementary school came into view.

A sense of relief fell over him and he shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, peering around the group of adults as he grew closer and closer to the school.

"Jack!"

He heard the familiar voice ring out and he spun around, trying to find the source of it. He stepped over to the side of the walkway to see his little sister running across the schoolyard, waving her arms in the air. Her pink backpack bounced up and down against her back right up until she skidded to a stop at Jack's side.

"Hey, squirt!" Jack grinned, reaching down to ruffle her hair. "How'd your first day go? Is the fourth grade as awesome as I told you it'd be?"

Emma smiled wide, swinging her arms out and replying,

"It was  _super_  fun! My teacher's name is Ms. Wolf and she said we're gonna get to read books a  _whole bunch_  this year-"

Jack grabbed her backpack and flipped her in the opposite direction, cutting her off.

"You and your books…" he scoffed, shaking his head.

They started walking back in the direction Jack had just come from. Emma swatted his hand away from her bag and shot him a playful glare.

"And me and Jamie are in the same class again!" Emma continued, "That's, like, three years in a row!"

Jack nodded. Emma always liked having Jamie in her classes, Jack had noticed. The two were complete book nerds-they were practically soulmates.

"Oh, yeah?" Jack responded, "What about Pippa? And Cupcake?"

"Nope," Emma shook her head, seeming a bit disappointed. She turned to look up her brother and smiled, adding, "But we all have recess together!"

"Perfect!" Jack exclaimed. "You know, that's the most important class of the day!"

Emma giggled.

" _Silly!_ " she called out, "Recess isn't a class!"

Jack grinned, narrowing his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he teased, walking ahead of her and turning around to face her. "I'm pretty sure it was always my favorite class! ...Second only to lunch, of course!"

Emma laughed, skipping ahead to catch up with him.

"Haha, you're crazy, Jack!" she told him.

They stopped at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change so they could cross. Jack eyed the area, especially the park right across the street. A familiar squeal rang out from the park, and he noticed a couple of kids running over to the swingset. Jack smiled, and pointed over to the park, poking Emma with his other hand, and saying,

"Hey, there's your friends now!"

Emma stared past him and her eyes lit up. The traffic light switched to the walking person, and Jack rushed out into the street, Emma skipping along next to him. They reached the other side and ran over to the park.

"Hey, guys!" Jack laughed, waving the other kids over.

The girl who had stood up on the swing jumped down, calling out,

"Hi, Jack! Hi, Emma!"

Emma ran ahead of Jack, grinning as Jamie and Monty turned around to see them coming. Jack grinned as the other kids soon joined them.

Cupcake made a face as she saw Jack walk up to them.

"Whoa," Cupcake stared up at his hair. "What happened to your head?"

The other kids stared up at him, too, and he grimaced, biting his lip as he tried to remember the explanation he'd given his sister when she first asked about it.

"Oh, uhh…" he rubbed at his arm a moment, before he grinned as he remembered. "It turns out I'm part-snowman! Haven't you heard?"

Emma rolled her eyes and the whole lot of them started to giggle.

Pippa walked up to him and reached out, mumbling,

"I wanna touch it."

Jack laughed, replying,

"It's just my hair, guys. It's just white instead of brown, you know?"

Emma pushed through the group of kids and grabbed Jack's hand.

"Come on, Jack," she told him, "we gotta go or Daddy will be mad we're late!"

The other kids seemed to frown, and Jack stood up straight, letting his sister drag him back toward the sidewalk.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he groaned, throwing a sympathetic pout at the kids as he walked away. "Bye, guys!"

Pippa waved at them as they left.

"See you tomorrow!" she yelled.

"Bye!" Jamie shouted out, too.

Emma turned back for only a moment to wave back.

"I don't see why we have to hurry back," Jack whined, pulling his hand out of Emma's grasp. "I don't even have homework."

"Well,  _I_  do!" Emma put her hands on her hips, giving him a stern look-which, obviously, wasn't very menacing coming from an eight-year-old.

"Pfft," Jack smirked. "Sucks to be you!"

"Meanie!" Emma huffed, and held her head up.

Jack sighed silently as they continued to walk along the sidewalk. He glanced down, and instinctively reached up to push his glasses back, but they weren't there anymore. He frowned. He really needed to stop forgetting that.

Emma giggled, and Jack looked over at her, confused.

"What?" he asked.

Emma smiled up at him, replying,

"You keep touching your nose."

Jack rolled his eyes. She noticed that?

"Well,  _sorry_ ," he retorted. "I'm used to having my glasses."

"You look so weird without them," Emma commented, tilting her head to the side and giving him an odd look.

"I do?" Jack asked, his voice sounding a bit more concerned than he had meant it to. But, he was concerned. Maybe he should have kept the glasses and only changed his hair?

"Ha, yeah," Emma responded, staring ahead again. "But, it's okay! You  _always_  look weird!"

Jack pouted, unamusedly glaring at her and replying,

"Oh, you think you're funny now, do ya?"

Emma looked back and forth down the street as they were about to cross. Jack reached down and tickled her side.

"Ahh! No!" Emma squealed and ran across the street and away from him.

Jack ran after her, calling out,

"I'm gonna catch you!"

"Nu-uh!" Emma called back, stomping as she reached the curb and turning to run towards the big, brick building on the corner. She raced to the stoop, skipped up the steps, and touched the door before turning back and shouting, "SAFE!"

Jack rushed up to the stoop and frowned at Emma.

"Ugh, you beat me," Jack pouted, slowly walking up the stairs.

"Maybe  _I_  should be in the race this summer!" Emma told him, laughing. Jack pushed open the door and they kicked off their shoes.

"But, then who's gonna be there to cheer me on?" Jack asked, letting his bag slide off his arm and tossed it on the floor of the foyer as Emma brought hers with her into the sitting room, walking over to the dining room table and setting it in one of the chairs. Jack trailed in behind her, noticing no one else seemed to be back yet.

"I bet Aunt Tooth will do it!" Emma told him, unzipping her bag and pulling out her papers.

"I'll be doing  _what_  now?"

Jack and Emma both looked up to see Tooth walking through the swinging door from the kitchen, giving them an inquisitive stare.

" _Nothing_ ~" Jack smirked, sitting down in the chair at the end of the long table. Emma giggled, sitting down in the chair next to his.

Tooth shook her head, walking over to the couch in the sitting room and plopping down on it.

Jack reached down and pulled out a crumpled, folded piece of paper from his hoodie pocket and flattening it against the table with his hand. He grabbed one of Emma's pencils and wrote his name at the top of the first one.

"I thought you said you didn't have homework?" Emma questioned, eyeing the papers in front of him.

"I don't," Jack replied matter-of-factly. "I just gotta fill out some papers."

"Oh, okay…" Emma sat back, and then glanced over as Jack picked up and squinted at the paper in his hands.

"Did you make friends today, Jack?" she asked innocently.

Jack almost dropped the pencil and peered over the paper at her.

"Huh?"

"Your plan," she tried.

"How do you know about that?" he asked, placing the paper down and stared at her incredulously.

"I'm not dumb enough to actually believe you're part-snowman," Emma told him blandly, leaning forward again and looking at her math worksheet.

Jack snapped his fingers, huffing a quick "Darn."

"Aunt Tooth said you did it to make friends," Emma commented.

"Well, yeah…" Jack frowned. She was right about that much.

"So, did it work?" She asked, looking up at him again with that innocent look.

"Uhh…" Jack hesitated before responding, " _Yeah!_  Yeah, it worked great!"

Emma shot him a glare, remarking,

"Liar."

Jack let out a dramatic gasp.

"Am not!"

"Why can't you just be friends with Jamie and Pippa?" she asked, "Like me?"

Jack sighed, putting his chin in his hand lazily.

"Well, they  _are_  my friends, kiddo," he told her. "But...well, I need friends my age, too. You know, friends I can do homework with and go drive to the movies with-"

"But you don't have a car," Emma interjected.

Jack stuck out his tongue at her.

"It was an example," he remarked.

"Yeah, a  _bad_  one," Emma smirked.

North burst in through the door from the foyer, his boots pounding against the hardwood floor. He walked in, smiling as he saw Jack and Emma sitting at the table. He waltzed over, saying,

"Ah, already doing homework? Good job!"

Emma turned around in her chair, a big smile plastered on her face.

"Hi, Daddy!"

North patted her head affectionately and rested his head on the back of her chair.

"Hello, my child," he replied, and then turned to Jack, adding, "And, Jack! How was first day of school?"

Jack gave him a weak smile. Was everyone going to ask him about his plan today?

"Uhh, you know…" he told him, "Same old."

"His plan didn't work," Emma told North, promptly turning back to her homework on the table.

Jack glared at her,

"How would you even know?" he retorted. It was like she had been there, and he definitely didn't say anything to her about it. How could she possibly know if it worked or not?

"If it worked," she told him sternly, "you would be all smiley and in a good mood, but you're not."

"She is very smart, no?" North chuckled, taking a step back. Jack scooted back his chair and stood up, replying,

"Yeah, a little _too_  smart, if you ask me…"

The foyer door opened again, and in walked Bunnymund, his permanent frown still on his face as he walked right over to the couch and plopped down onto it. Tooth gave him a warm smile, but he just reached over and grabbed the TV remote, flipping on the television in front of them.

Jack started to walk over to the door, but North stopped him, asking,

"What about the new project?"

Jack turned back, confused.

"Project?" he questioned.

"Your pen pal, Jack," Tooth told him from over the couch, sitting up so she could see him over the back of her seat.

"Oh! Uhh, yeah, I don't know…" Jack shrugged, taking a step back and sighing. "I sent my letter, and I'll get one back soon enough."

Tooth turned around on the couch, leaning over the back and smiling over at North, telling him,

"He talked about how much he liked playing with his sister! It was so cute!"

Jack froze, shooting her a look.

"Wait, you read it?" he asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah…" Tooth replied, waving him off. "All your letters are copied to your homeroom teacher's e-mail so we can make sure you're actually doing the work-"

"You mean  _Bunny_  read it, too?!" Jack grimaced, glancing at the back of the gray-haired man's head.

"I could care less what you wrote, sport," Bunnymund replied, staring at the television. Jack folded his arms over his chest and Tooth turned to him, saying,

"But you really should have talked about your interests, not just what you do here at home."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Bunny started laughing, remarking,

"You're talking about  _Jack_ , Tooth. He has as many interests as he does friends."

Jack sneered at him in return, finally catching Bunny's eye as he stared back before he retorted,

"Now, that's  _rich_ , coming from some grumpy, boring old man."

"Jack!" Tooth called, giving him a strict look.

Bunny turned around, glaring at Jack.

"Boring?" He scoffed, "Eh, maybe, but at least I ain't invisible."

Jack went silent, along with the rest of the room. Bunnymund always had to do this-turn every simple discussion into some pointless argument. Jack stared back at him, feeling his eyes get hot.

"If a boring old man like me can get friends," Bunny continued, "then why can't you, huh?"

Jack stayed silent, and Tooth sank down on the couch. North glanced over at Jack and Emma's concerned face peeked out from over at the table.

"Jack," North spoke, but Jack instantly turned around and stormed out into the foyer and stomped up the staircase on the left.

Emma pulled a frown,

"Jaaack," she cried, clearly upset.

"Bunny, was that really necessary?" Tooth berated the man next to her. Bunnymund sat still, facing the television with a slack expression.

"Hey," he remarked, "he started it. I just ended it."

Emma frowned, turning back to her homework.

"I hope he's okay," she said quietly.

North and Tooth looked back at her, sympathy written all over their faces in an instant. Tooth stood up, walking over toward the table.

"Oh, Jack'll be fine, sweetie," she told her, putting an arm around her shoulders as she stepped closer. "He just needs to cool off for a bit, that's all."

Emma looked up at her with a small smile, but Tooth wasn't sure she seemed convinced.

* * *

Jack stomped up to the second floor and stopped to take a breath before briskly walking over to the smaller staircase at the end of the hall. He gripped the metal frame and skipped three steps, finally arriving at the dark door with a simple, paper sign on it that read "Jack's Room."

He bumped the door with his shoulder, opening it to enter the large, open room behind it. The entire being made of glass lit the room up with a warm, orange glow, but it clashed against his blue, cold mood. He slammed the door behind him and walked over to the bed, standing on top of his messy sheets to reach up to the closest window panel. He pried it open and set one, bare foot on his shelf, successfully pulling himself up and onto the roof of the boarding house.

He sat back against the paved roof, closing his eyes and soaking in the sounds of the bustling city below. Cars drove by, kids laughed as they walked by on their way home from school, but all this noise eventually died down. It grew quieter and quieter. Jack stared up at the sky.

This plan of his hadn't been a complete waste of time...right?

All the effort he put into getting used to the contacts and dying his hair the strangest color he could think of (after green) was going to pay off eventually, right? Bunny was just running his mouth down there, like he always did. He was just riling him up; he didn't mean any of it.

Besides, Jack had PLENTY of interests. He just happened to particularly enjoy playing with his sister more than any of the other, numerous hobbies and fun activities he liked to do. And maybe he couldn't exactly think of any of them when he started writing his first letter to his pen pal, so what? He was totally going to have LOADS of stuff to talk about over the year to this... What was the guy's name again?

Jack shook his head. He couldn't remember, but it didn't matter. He was going to make so many new friends this year, he probably wouldn't be able to remember all their names anyway.

He sat up.

"Oh, that would have been a  _great_  excuse to use on Emma," he told himself. But it was too late to try it now, of course.

Jack sighed, deflating back onto the roof. Maybe this plan wasn't going to work, after all. Maybe he should just wash this gunk out of his hair and put those dumb glasses back on and go back to being his usual, invisible self...

No.

He sat up again, puffing out his cheeks as he stared out at the blue, cloudless sky.

_No_ , he told himself. He refused to just give up. It's only been one day, after all. Everyone was still in their own, little, summer-minded bubbles and hadn't realized he looked any different today. Yeah, that was it! Tomorrow, everything would change. And, if not, the day after tomorrow, maybe even the day after that. It was going to happen, he knew it. There was no reason to give up hope so soon.

After all, there was still Plan B, but he was saving that until the spring.

He grinned, closing his eyes and folding his hands behind his head.

No, he wasn't gonna give up. Plan B could wait; his original idea would do the job-he was sure of it.


	4. Ready To Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Alright, here it is. Another chapter, finally done. I said I'd have it done on Friday, and I actually did it! Wow. These first few chapters have been nothing but introductions so that you can get a good feeling for what Hiccup and Jack deal with at home and at school, but they WILL beginning communicating in the next chapter! I promise! Thanks so much for reading, guys!
> 
> I do not own the rights to any characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**PenPals - Chapter Four**

* * *

**Chapter Four - Ready to Go**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 1794**

**Warnings: Some Language, Playful Threats**

* * *

 

As soon as the final bell rang, everyone in the classroom was up and out of there in seconds. Hiccup picked up his bag, walking to the back of the classroom to grab his coat from his cubby.

Astrid snatched hers up from right beside him with a smirk.

"Come on, slow poke," she told him, elbowing him in the side as she rushed past him to walk out the door.

Hiccup laughed, turning to pull on his coat and follow her.

Astrid pushed open the door to get outside, and Hiccup caught it, stepping out himself.

Astrid swung her arms at her sides.

"It's only been two days and I already want school to be over," she complained. "It's too much work."

"Says the person who forced me to do half her work today," Hiccup added, rolling his eyes.

Astrid put her hands on her hips.

"I didn't  _force_  you," she retorted.

Hiccup turned to her, remarking,

"You threatened to break my arm if I didn't translate that e-mail."

"Your  _right_  arm," Astrid corrected, grabbing Hiccup's arm and flopping it in his face with a smirk. "You hardly even use that one."

Hiccup pulled his arm away.

"I use my arm at work, thank you very much," he told her. "Welding requires two hands, you know."

Astrid shook her head.

"Well, you just keep on reading my pen pal's letters for me and I'll let you keep both your arms," she replied. "Everyone wins."

"Is that what you call it?" Hiccup questioned. "Because I'm pretty sure that's actually called extortion."

"Hey, it works for me," Astrid grinned.

Hiccup sighed,

"Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

Hiccup walked down the hill, watching the ground in front of him as he approached the small shop on the corner. He glanced up and down the road before crossing the street, finally arriving at the shop for work.

He turned the doorknob, and the bell overhead rang out, signalling his entrance. He shut the door behind him, dropping his bookbag against the wall and pulling off his coat and tossing it on top of it.

"Hey, Gobber," Hiccup called out, walking into the shop and stepping behind the dusty counter to grab an apron from the hanger on the wall. Gobber grunted, walking in from the back shop.

"Afternoon, Hiccup," he replied, and then smirked, looking over as Hiccup tied the string behind his back. "You might wanna check the back before ya get goin' here."

Hiccup glanced up, eyeing him with confusion, asking,

"What? Why?"

Hiccup hesitantly stepped into the back shop, walking towards the small room in the corner. The space had been claimed by Hiccup years ago-his own little home away from home, really. There was a sturdy, cement-top desk and shelves filled with small metal pieces. He did simple repair jobs back there sometimes, but the majority of his time spent in that room involved the hundreds of drawings and larger, metal structures sitting against the walls and tucked away in the corners.

"Mail finally came in today," Gobber remarked, sticking his through the doorway to watch Hiccup walk into the room.

Hiccup's eyes went wide and he turned back to Gobber.

"You mean…?"

He rushed into the back room, spotting the envelope sitting on his desk. He swiftly picked it up, and Gobber sauntered into the shop, asking,

"That darn application you'd been waitin' on, I expect?"

Hiccup didn't bother waiting any longer. He ripped open the top of the envelope with his finger and pulled out the paper tucked inside. He unfolded and began reading right away.

"Oh-oh, my Gods! Finally!" he exclaimed, smiling widely. Hiccup turned the paper over in his hands, glancing over the application on the back.

Gobber grinned, but rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, fill it out on yer own time, will ya?" he told him. "Take it home, have yer father sign it, and bring it ta school tomorrow, okay?"

Hiccup looked up and his grin instantly fell.

"I have to get my dad to sign off on it?" he asked quietly, glancing down at the paper, now frowning.

"What's the problem?" Gobber asked, raising an eyebrow. "He agreed to let you off school to do the apprenticeship."

Hiccup placed the application down on his desk, turning to Gobber solemnly, and replied,

"But he could change his mind, especially now that…" he breathed, motioning to the application, "...now that this is an actual possibility."

"He won't do that, Hiccup," Gobber reassured him. "He's nothing if not a man of his word."

Hiccup had to stop himself from laughing at that. Did Gobber even know his dad? 'A man of his word'? Really? More like a man who refuses to hear anyone out...

"Ha," Hiccup replied, "you don't know him like I do."

Gobber pointed a finger in his face, remarking,

"I've known him longer than your scrawny ass has been alive. Don't doubt me now."

"Alright, alright…" Hiccup held up his hands defensively. He turned around to pick the letter up and realized something was missing in the back room. He glanced around until it hit him… "Wait, where's my base?" he asked.

"You mean that sculpture you started last week?" Gobber shrugged, "I put it in the shed."

"What?!" Hiccup spun around, grimacing. "Gobber, what if my dad saw you?"

Gobber shook his head, turning to walk back to the front. Hiccup followed him, eyes pleading for an answer. Gobber turned back as he entered the doorway, replying,

"He didn't see nothin'."

Hiccup visibly relaxed, but Gobber continued,

"And I only put it back there 'cause he'd been tryin' to snoop about the shop again while you were out with Astrid."

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows.

" _Again_? But you said-"

"I know what I said," Gobber interjected, waving him off. "The man just wants to know what his son's up to these days."

"Well, that sounds just like him," Hiccup shook his head. "He can't just  _ask_?"

"Would ya tell him if he did?" Gobber raised an eyebrow knowingly.

Hiccup looked back at him, opening his mouth to reply, but nothing came out.

Gobber nodded,

"You know, life's a two-way street, Hiccup."

"Yeah, well," Hiccup retorted, "if he actually tries, maybe I will, too."

"Ugh," Gobber shook his head. "You know that's not what I mean."

* * *

After it had gotten dark, Hiccup decided to head back out. He uttered a quiet "good night" to Gobber as he left the shop and started to walk home.

The wind had picked up since earlier, whipping Hiccup's hair back and out of his face. He grumbled to himself as he lifted a hand to pull up his hood, but it didn't take long before the wind knocked it back down.

He looked down at the envelope he clutched tightly in his hand. After he filled this out and had Gobber mail it back in, his dream of leaving the cold, barren black hole that was Berk would be that much closer to coming true.

Hiccup walked up the hill, almost to the house. He walked up the steps, his metal prosthetic clinking across the ground. He opened the door, looking around and noticing the lights were still off.

"Dad?" he called. "You home?"

He flipped on the lights in the kitchen and hung his coat and his bag over the back of a chair at the table. After there was no reply, he sighed, remarking,

"...guess not."

He trudged over to the refrigerator, pulling open the door and leaning down to look at what was inside. He grabbed a plate full of leftovers and a few containers off the door, then turned back to the counter to open the bread box and pick out a couple pieces.

He opened the silverware drawer and grabbed a knife, picking up the jar of mayonnaise and scooping out some onto the bread.

A rustling sound from behind the front door signalled to Hiccup that his father had returned. Hiccup quickly shoved the sandwich he was making into his mouth and used his free hands to stash everything back into the fridge.

"Son?" His father called out, walking inside. "You home?"

Hiccup turned around, slamming the refrigerator door closed with his prosthetic foot. Stoick pulled off his coat, looking down at his son and his mouthful of food.

"Ah, Hiccup!" he bellowed, walking around the table to talk to him. "Err, I needed to, uhh, talk to you."

Hiccup pulled the sandwich out of his mouth and swallowed. The hesitation in his dad's voice made him nervous. Whatever he wanted to talk about probably wasn't something he wanted to hear…

"Uhm, actually, Dad," he replied, reaching over to grab his bookbag. "I've got homework, so…"

He held the bag up and then shoved the sandwich back in his mouth.

Stoick stood up straight, taking a step back as Hiccup rushed past him and toward the staircase to go upstairs.

"Oh, right. Of course…" he remarked, sighing as he watched Hiccup ascend the stairs. "We'll talk later, then."

Hiccup nearly tripped as he reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hall to his bedroom. He opened the door, shutting it behind him and dropping the bag on the floor again. He walked over to his desk and glanced up at the world map taped over the window and then the calendar on the wall right next to it. It was covered in red Xs, marking off the days left until he could leave.

Hiccup sat down in the wooden chair and bit his lip.

"Just one more year," he told himself.

He sighed, reaching into his back pocket and taking out the letter from it. He set it down on his small desk, right next to the brochure he got in class the other day. The photos from America plastered all over it made him smile. All he had to do was wait one more year.

In another year, he'd be out of this town and exploring the world-he was sure of it.

 


	5. Oh No

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Okay, time for Jack and Hiccup to finally start interacting and for the plot points to get going! Thanks so much for the support everyone has given this AU, and thanks for reading! And extra thanks to Pan for helping me figure out how I wanted to address the issue with the letters~~
> 
> I do not own the rights to any characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series. (The names Majerus and Guffey are those belonging to my little brother and my favorite cousin. I don't own them, but they are family~)

**PenPals - Chapter Five**

* * *

**Chapter Five - Oh No**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 2957**

**Warnings: Bullying, slight angst (sort of?), a lot of dialogue from unnamed characters in this chapter, PARKOUR**

* * *

 

Jack slumped in the plastic-back chair as he stared at the computer screen in front of him. He tilted his head back to glance around the computer lab. The other students in the media center had already finished up and were now working on other assignments or goofing off. Jack turned back to his computer and the blank e-mail window. He scowled at the blinking cursor that seemed to taunt him the longer it continued to disappear and reappear in the same spot, impatiently waiting for him to type something.

Well, maybe if he could just  _think of something_ , it wouldn't have to wait anymore.

Jack took a deep breath and set his hands in the keyboard, properly placing them to begin typing.

He looked down at the keyboard and then up at the screen.

"Come on," he muttered to himself, "you can do this."

He bit his lip and leaned in, pressing down the H key.

And then the Backspace key.

He furrowed his brows and tried again.

He started over, pressing the Y key, and then kept going.

_Your right. Hiccup is a weird name._

He stopped, staring at the screen. That was the right 'your', wasn't it? Jack tapped his finger gently on the backspace before finally pressing it down again, trying one more time.

_You're right. Hiccup is a weird name._

Yeah, that looked right.

He glanced over at the clock at the bottom of the screen and he frowned. He'd been sitting here nearly fifty minutes. Class would be over soon and he'd only just started!

He groaned and let his head fall onto the keyboard, smashing down keys and making the screen fill with random letters and numbers.

"Gahhh," he complained, "this is taking forever..."

"Something the matter, Jack?"

Jack turned his head, smashing even more keys, to see Toothania walking into the computer lab and giving him a sympathetic look.

"Just having a major brain malfunction," he replied unenthusiastically. "Nothing new."

Tooth shook her head, stepping up to him and prying his head up off the keyboard.

"What's the problem?" She asked him now that he was sitting upright again.

Jack sighed dramatically.

"I don't know what the heck to say to this guy," he responded.

He dragged the mouse over and opened his word document containing a loosely-translated version of his pen pal's last message, motioning to it with his other hand, continuing,

"I mean, he wants to know about, like, my friends and the school and who all I know in town." He turned to Tooth. "Do you see my problem here?"

Tooth pulled out the chair to the computer next to Jack's and sat down, looking at the screen and tapping her chin with her finger.

"Well, maybe..." She started, "you could talk about Emma's friends? Uhh, like, Jamie and that one girl...with the pigtails?"

Jack sunk back in the uncomfortable chair. He was no way he was gonna do that.

"Oh,  _yeah_ ," he sarcastically responded, "I  _really_  want to tell this guy I hang out with a bunch of eight-year-olds because no one else wants to."

"What about me? And North?" Tooth tried, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Ooh, you could talk about the boarders! That'd be interesting!"

Jack frowned, replying,

"Yeah, but then what would I talk about next week? And the week after that? And the week after  _that_?"

Tooth matched his frown, unsure what to say.

"This whole project is stupid," Jack groaned, but then he blinked and looked over at Tooth and her sudden frown.

He forced a smile, saying,

"I mean...uhh, I bet everyone is having fun. I just don't have anything to talk about."

Tooth shook her head.

"It's okay, Jack," she told him. "The first couple weeks might be a bit of a struggle."

"I think 'struggle' is an understatement," Jack remarked, clicking back to his e-mail and deleting everything off of it to start from scratch yet again.

"Hey, Ms. T?"

Tooth glanced over at the student waving their hand in the air, trying to get her attention.

"Just talk about whatever's on your mind," Tooth said to Jack, standing up. "Does that help?"

"Uhh, not...really," Jack shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, you have until Friday to send your letter. Give it some time and think on it, okay?" Tooth offered, "I'm sure you'll come up with something."

Jack sighed, watching as Tooth walked away before muttering,

"Yeah, well, I doubt it..."

* * *

Jack put his hands in the pocket of his hoodie, staring down at the tile floor as he walked through the crowded hall to his next class. Knapsack full of gym clothes hanging loosely over his shoulder, he swung open the metal door to the boys' locker room and descended the stairs.

Finally reaching the locker room, he pulled the bag off his shoulder and walked toward the bathroom stalls, only to stop as two smirking teenagers pushed him back. He glanced up to see two taller guys that he recognized right away. A third and fourth joined them and Jack pulled out his hands, holding them cautiously at his sides.

"Hey, watch where you're going," Jack started, and stepped closer to the wall to continue.

One of the teens stuck out his foot, and Jack noticed it too late before stumbling over him and onto the concrete floor.

"Whoa," the guy uttered sarcastically, looking back at his friends, "what was  _that_?"

Jack pushed himself back onto his knees, glaring back up at them over his shoulder.

"You knocked me over, you moron!" he grumbled.

The group started snickering and one of the others spoke up,

"Did you hear something, dude?"

"I didn't hear anything," another one replied with a smirk.

Jack sighed. Another genius, trying to rile him up. Why did he always somehow end up in these idiots' crosshairs, anyway? Here he was, thinking he was invisible to everyone, and then these knuckleheads show up to prove him wrong.

"Must have been the, uhh..." a third added, "the wind, man."

The first laughed louder than necessary, slapping a hand on the other's shoulder.

"Haha, yeah! The  _wind_!"

Jack got to his feet, muttering under his breath and trying to get out of the way as quickly as possible.

"Nice one, dude!" was the last thing he heard before finally reaching the bathroom. He gritted his teeth and shut and locked the door behind him.

* * *

Changed into an old pair of basketball shorts and a wife-beater to match his hair, Jack walked back upstairs to the gym to join the rest of his class. He climbed up the indoor bleachers, finally taking a seat near the very top, away from the rest of the students.

The gym teacher walked in from his office shortly after, clipboard in hand and ready to take attendance. Jack slumped back against the wall.

"Alright, go on-get outside," the gym teacher announced to the class, setting the clipboard down on the bleachers and motioning to the open doors on the other end of the gym. "We're gonna play some kickball; start this year off right!"

A bunch of kids cheered, jumping off the bleachers and running over to the doors right away, while others simply made their way over at a leisurely pace. Jack stood up, stepping down the bleachers two at a time. He jumped to the floor from the last one and headed for the door himself. A couple of girls walked in front of him, and both made disgusted faces as they walked outside.

"Yuck," one of them commented, "look at this mud."

The other took out her cell phone, saying,

"I'm so glad I didn't change out today."

"Yeah, me, too," the first replied.

Jack shook his head. He didn't enjoy gym class any more than these two, but he knew that if he dressed out, at least his grades wouldn't suffer the way his social life did.

He momentarily considered speaking these thoughts aloud, but he figured the girls would just ignore him anyway, so why waste his breath?

He stepped onto the baseball field where all the other students had gathered. He leaned up against the tall, wire fence.

The teacher stepped out onto the diamond, putting a couple fingers in his mouth and whistling to get the class' attention.

"Alright, line up!" He shouted, pointing over to the fence Jack was already leaning against. "Majerus, Guffey-you pick the teams."

The students rushed over to the fence, a few pushing Jack out of his place, not that it surprised him at all. Two of the boys from earlier in the locker room walked over to where the teacher was standing and scanned the row of students.

The teacher barked out,

"No, no-girls, go over to the track and walk 'til class is over."

The two girls from earlier both gave exasperated sighs and started toward the track.

Jack crossed his arms over his chest as he watched them go. The track was just a short walk away and was almost out of sight from the baseball field with all the bleachers and signs everywhere. Looking past the girls and toward the track, he noticed a large sign that must have just been put up recently. It read 'Tri-Center Triathlon-Burgess 2014' in bold letters.

Jack swallowed. That's right. He still hadn't started training for the triathlon like he said he would. Granted, he assumed that his little makeover was going to finally get him noticed and that his 'Plan B' wasn't going to be necessary... But, obviously, he was wrong.

He really needed to start training soon, though. In order for his other plan to work, he have to WIN that race, and he was not in shape enough at the moment to do that.

Jack turned back, wondering if kickball would count as training, only to realize the teams had already been picked and the class was getting the field set up.

He frowned. Really? He was forgotten?  _Again_?

Jack pushed himself off the fence and stepped up to the teacher.

"Uhh, Mr. Clements?" He asked, tapping his shoulder until the man turned around. "I still need to be put on a team."

The teacher looked confused and scratched his head.

"Alright," he turned and called out to the boy holding the ball, "Majerus, we got one left!"

The boy glanced around at the outfield, calling back,

"We're evened-out, Coach."

The teacher looked around, too, and then shrugged.

"Huh? Oh, well, alright, let's go," he shouted over to the students. "Guffey, get your lineup figured out, you're up to bat-"

Jack frowned and tapped the man's shoulder again.

"Uhh, Mr. Clements?" He tried again, "What about me?"

The teacher looked back at him.

"Oh, uhh...right," he replied. "What's your name again?"

Jack eyed him.

"Jack Overland...?"

The teacher nodded, scratching his head again.

"Right, Overland..."

He looked around the field again.

"Uhm, wanna be ref?" The man offered.

The boy from earlier shouted out,

"I already called ref, Coach!"

Jack watched as the students all stilled, finally ready to play...without him, of course.

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the track again. Maybe...?

He spoke up,

"Can I just go run on the track?"

The teacher looked back at him, then at the track, and nodded.

"Yeah, alright. Go right ahead."

He turned back to the class, asking who was supposed to be pitching, and Jack huffed.

"...thanks," he said and turned around, trudging toward the track.

* * *

He had started out with a good jog, but as he reached the last quarter of the first mile, he started sprinting, mentally counting the seconds. He kept his breathing as calm as possible, but as he reached the line where he had started his first lap, he gasped loudly and started walking again.

He glanced over at the large clock on the press box at the top of the bleachers. That mile took almost fifteen minutes for him to run. Boy, he was really out of shape. He picked up the pace again, having just barely caught his breath. He did need to figure out his training regimen for the triathlon in the spring, didn't he? Maybe he should start running on the weekends? No, then he'd probably be too tired from having had school all week. Maybe he should just run after school and then he can have the weekends for a break? No, then he couldn't pick up Emma or get all his homework done before the next morning. What about the mornings? He could just get up early, run, and then be back in time to get Emma to school and then he could still run in the mornings on the weekends and have the rest of the day to do whatever he wanted.

He grinned, proud of himself. That was a perfect plan. He just needed to remember to write that down when he got the chance and figure out the exact times for everything…

He rushed past the two girls also on the track, just walking and talking, both with their cell phones out. Jack picked up the pace again, sprinting for the last quarter-mile. As he reached the end, his eyes went straight to the clock on the press box again. Thirteen minutes? At least it was better than the last lap. He slowed down a bit and went back to jogging on the track.

He wondered what his goal should be if he wanted to win the race in the spring. What would be impressive? What would help him win? What would still be impressive even if he didn't win? But, obviously, he  _would_  win, because anything else was unacceptable. That plan would have to work, because he had pretty much run out of ideas for getting noticed and he wasn't sure he would be able to think of any more.

His thoughts drifted to his pen pal assignment from that morning. Hiccup had asked if he liked sports. Or, well, he asked if he liked baseball, but Jack figured that the overall question was about sports… Running was considered a sport, though, right? If it's in the olympics, it's gotta be a sport!

Jack shook his head, jogging past the girls again.

Maybe he could talk to Hiccup about running. He could tell him about the race coming up in the spring. Or, maybe he could just talk about how he's training for the race, and then he can tell him about how he totally won once it's over. That'd probably be a good story for his pen pal to tell his friends, and maybe it would make Hiccup want to be his friend, too! Jack grinned. His plan was just ever-evolving, huh? But, what would he talk to him about in the meantime? The race was still a good eight months away…

Jack glanced over at the home-side bleachers as he rounded the last turn again. Something shiny caught his eye and he ran over to the far end of the track. He grabbed onto the small fence outlining the track and pushed himself up, jumping over it. He grabbed onto the bars at the edge of the bleachers and hoisted himself over them, jumping up onto the bleachers. He skipped up onto the bleacher seats, taking two rows at a time and snatching up the shiny object with his hand.

It was just a candy wrapper. Jack glanced back down and noticed a trashcan near the fence bordering the track. He smirked and jumped down the bleachers, skipping two at a time, and then jumping right onto the bars at the end, using only his free hand to steady himself, then jumping directly onto the fence below, both hands up in the air. He steadied himself and stood up straight, turning enough to walk along the metal fence and toward the trashcan a few yards away. He started walking faster, keeping his eyes on the trashcan, and then jumped down as he reached it, landing directly on top of it. He gripped the rounded top of it with his free hand, threw the wrapper inside with the other, and then hopped back to the fence. He squatted for a moment, then grabbed on with his hands and swung his feet out in front of him before landing squarely on the track again.

"Parkour!" he shouted triumphantly, pumping his fists in the air and laughing at himself. He loved doing that. He blinked and dropped his arms when he heard someone else's laugh, and peered across the track to see the girls that were walking had stopped and were now looking at him.

Wait.

They were  _looking at him_. He couldn't stop the huge grin that came to his face, not that he would want to. Did they just see that? Did they think it was cool? There was no way they didn't think it was cool, because that was definitely cool!

Just as he brought up his hand again to wave, the girls turned away and started walking the other direction down the track. But Jack's grin remained. They totally saw him just now, and that was more than enough for him.

That wasn't such a bad run, he thought to himself, his smile refusing to fade. It got him noticed, if only for a moment. Maybe Hiccup would think parkour was cool, too? It would at least make him seem cool, right?

He started walking again.

"I think I just found something to write about," he told himself.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter came a little early this week, but the next one will probably be out next Friday, as planned! Thanks again for reading!


	6. Stand and Scream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: The new chapter is finally here! Hope the wait wasn't too long for everyone~
> 
> Now, this chapter contains a LOT of Hiccup and Astrid hanging out, but I swear it's not as a couple! They are just really, REALLY close friends.
> 
> I do not own the rights to any characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**Penpals - Chapter Six**

* * *

**Chapter Six - Stand and Scream**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 2388**

**Warnings: Some Language, Angst at the end, some hiccstrid if you squint**

* * *

"Hey, Hiccup?"

Hiccup blinked. He'd been staring at his laptop's computer screen for such a long time, his eyes felt like they had dried out. He sat back and glanced over to see Astrid sitting next to him, giving him an expectant look.

"Hmm?" he replied, returning his gaze to the computer screen.

Astrid huffed, remarking,

"I cannot figure out this sentence-" she stopped and her face fell as she noticed that Hiccup wasn't paying attention. "What are you doing?"

She leaned over and looked at his screen and Hiccup shook his head, clicking on a new video link to open it.

"Oh, I'm trying to figure out what 'parkour' is," he replied. "Apparently, it's some kind of sport."

Astrid frowned, looking at the video as it played.

"...it just looks like people falling down a lot," she commented.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, remarking,

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking…"

He clicked out of the screen, opening the e-mail he had received earlier that day. "I'll just ask Jack…" he mumbled to himself as he opened a reply box and began typing a response.

Astrid smirked.

"Well, now that your question's been answered-" she told him, and turned her laptop screen to face him, "what the heck is this word?"

Hiccup stopped typing and glanced over at her screen. She was pointing at a specific word, but the font was too small to read from where he was. He sighed and leaned over to take a closer look.

"Uhm…" he furrowed his eyebrows for a moment.

"Oh, yeah, just split it into two words," he explained, pointing at the word in question. "See? Now it's 'fan' and 'fiction'."

Astrid nodded, but as Hiccup sat back, she asked,

"Okay, but what  _is_  it?"

Hiccup shrugged.

"Hell if I know," he replied. "Americans have all these weird terms for normal things for some reason… I've learned to just ignore most of it."

"Well, thanks for nothing…" Astrid grumbled playfully, turning her laptop back toward her.

Hiccup returned to his own work, quickly remarking,

"Hey, I translated it for you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Astrid shook her head and closed the laptop. She let her head rest on the desk before looking over at Hiccup as he continued to type. "So, what are we doing after school today?" she asked him.

Hiccup continued to type, absently replying,

"Uhh… I don't know."

"Oh, come on," Astrid complained. "It's your day off from work. We gotta  _party_!"

Hiccup cracked a small smile.

"Yeah, no," he replied, "we don't."

He clicked 'Send' on the message and closed his laptop, as well.

Astrid sat up, suggesting,

"How about video games and junk food at my house?"

Hiccup grinned, nodding.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

The first few rounds of Mario Kart were entertaining, but then it slowly started to get boring. Hiccup moved to lay on his stomach, craning his head up to see the television from the carpeted floor of Astrid's bedroom. Astrid shifted her legs, keeping them crossed in front of her.

"So…" she finally spoke up.

Hiccup glanced over at her for a quick moment.

"So, what?" he asked, copying her tone.

"I think I'm gonna apply to UI," Astrid remarked with a blank expression.

Hiccup pushed himself back to sit on his knees.

"Really?" he asked, "I thought you wanted to go to Norway?"

"Yeah, but…" Astrid paused the game and looked over at him, explaining, "UI's only a two-hour drive and my mom won't be so devastated when I leave if I'm at least in the same country, you know?"

Hiccup shrugged, responding,

"If Iceland's got what you want, then I say go for it, Astrid."

He scooted back and propped himself up against the end of her bed. Astrid shot him a smile.

"Thanks."

Hiccup waved her off, placing the controller on the floor.

"So, how about you?" she glanced over at Hiccup, eyeing him. "Your visa application go through yet?"

Hiccup's expression fell, and he looked down at his hands.

"Uhh…"

Astrid frowned.

"You sent it in, right?" she questioned.

"Well…" Hiccup bit his lip, "I have to get my dad to sign it first."

Astrid huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for? If you wait too long, you won't even make it on the list and you'll have to wait another whole year to leave-"

"I know that!" Hiccup cut her off. "I'm just… I don't know. My dad's been acting weird lately."

Astrid raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

" _So_ ," Hiccup glared, "I think he might change his mind."

Astrid scooted back up against the bed, as well, turning to him and asking,

"What? Why? Did you ask him about it?"

Hiccup blinked.

"Well,  _no_ , but-"

"Hiccup, you can't just assume he's gonna say no," Astrid crossed her arms. "Just tell him to sign the application when you get home and get it done and over with."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it, okay? You two made that arrangement, right?" Astrid smiled. "What's there to worry about?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Hiccup sighed, glancing over at the window, a concerned expression still on his face.

"Of course I am!" Astrid smirked, elbowing him to get his attention. "Now pick up that controller so I can beat your ass on Rainbow Road."

Hiccup grinned, turning back to her. Maybe she was right. He didn't need to worry about it. His dad was a man of his word, right? Right. He could trust him.

He picked up the controller and Astrid continued the game.

* * *

Hiccup gripped the strap for his backpack as he opened the front door, stepping inside the warm house with a small grin. Hanging out with Astrid always seemed to put him in a content mood, and he was thankful for that today.

He let the bag slide off his shoulder and onto the floor as he shut the door behind him.

"Son?" he heard his father call out from the living room.

Hiccup breathed before turning and unzipping his bag to pull out the folded application. His father walked into the kitchen and Hiccup stood back up and looked up at him.

"Oh, hey, Dad…" he started. "I need to-"

"-talk to you," Stoick spoke at the same time.

They both paused and looked at each other.

"Wait-"

"-what?"

Hiccup shook his head.

"Uhh, you go first," he offered.

"No, you go ahead," his father replied.

"Uhm, okay, well…" Hiccup bit his lip and held out the folded paper in his hand. "I finally got the application in and I just need you to sign it."

Stoick's expression seemed surprised and his eyes fell to the paper.

"The...student visa application?" he asked.

Hiccup gulped. Had he forgotten? He just needed to stay positive.

He tried reminding him, continuing,

"Yeah, so I can go to America next year for the apprenticeship-"

"Uhh, about that," Stoick interjected hesitantly, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

Hiccup's eyes widened. No. No, no, no. This wasn't happening!

"W-what?" he stammered, "But...but, you said-"

"I know what I said, Hiccup," his father remarked, his voice suddenly stern. "I'm just not so sure-"

"We had a  _deal_!" Hiccup grumbled, trying to keep his cool, "I've been waiting for two years to do this, Dad!"

"I know! I know…" Stoick replied, putting up his massive hands defensively. "I just think it'd be better if you stayed here another year...or so."

"Dad-" Hiccup groaned.

"And...and, you don't know anyone in the States, son," Stoick continued, folding his arms. "And we could use your welding skills at the factory."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, dropping his arms to his sides.

"They could use my welding skills just about anywhere, Dad," he responded.

"Well...what about Gobber?" Stoick tried again, "He'll need your help, won't he?"

"He almost never needs help with anything," Hiccup told him, his frown slowly turning to a glare.

This conversation wasn't going the way he'd imagined at all. There had to be some way for him to keep his dad from changing his mind…

"What about Astrid? And your cousin?" Stoick spoke, "What about all your friends here in Berk? You can't just leave them behind, right?"

"I'm not planning to leave  _forever_ -" Hiccup pulled a face, crumpling the paper in his hand. "Dad, what is this all about? Is something going on?"

Stoick suddenly seemed worried.

"What? No!" he replied, "Uhm, no, of course not. I just… I just think my son should...stick around. You know, settle down here like we all do. You're growing up so fast, so it's about time you looked into what you plan to do in the future. Like, get married, have kids, grow old. Normal stuff."

Hiccup mirrored Stoick's stance, crossing his arms and glaring up at the man, remarking,

"Yeah, I'm actually pretty sure I don't want to do  _any_  of those things, so-"

"Will you at least consider this?" Stoick pleaded.

Hiccup groaned again, not even bothering to give a response to that.

"I just...need you to give up on this little idea of yours," Stoick continued quietly. "At least for a little while, okay? I really need you here for now."

Hiccup glared.

"We already talked about this!" he shouted. "You agreed that if I worked harder at the smithy, I could do the apprenticeship next year! You  _promised_ , Dad!"

Stoick stared him in the eye.

"But, Hiccup-"

"No!" Hiccup yelled, staring right back up at him. "You can't just go back on your word for no reason!"

"But, there  _is_  a reason!" Stoick bellowed.

Hiccup paused and watched as his father stood up straight, looking anxious and unsure what to do. Hiccup cocked an eyebrow.

"... _well_?" he questioned.

If his dad had a good reason, he had to be willing to listen. That much, he'd learned from having Astrid as a friend all these years.

"It's...very complicated," Stoick finally replied. "And I'm not sure you'd understand."

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Try me."

Stoick stood still, the awkward silence quickly filling up the small room. He looked away.

"I can't."

Hiccup shook his head. Why wasn't he surprised by any of this?

"You can't?" he gritted his teeth angrily, and held out the application. "Just like you  _can't_  sign for me to get my visa? Just like you  _can't_  let me leave this blasted hellhole of a town?! WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT?! I DON'T CARE IF YOU  _CAN'T_ , DAD!"

Hiccup shoved the paper at his dad's chest, but the burly man obviously didn't budge at all. He whipped around, grabbing his backpack off the floor and opening the door to leave again.

"Hiccup-" Stoick tried.

"I'll come back when you sign it," Hiccup shot to him over his shoulder before slamming the door loudly and stomping down the pathway as fast as he could.

He was right. He knew this was going to happen! Why did he listen to Astrid anyway? She didn't know anything about this situation! Why did he even bother asking in the first place? He knew his dad would say no. He knew he'd change his mind at the last second. He'd done it before, so why did he think this time would be any different?

Hiccup huffed, folding his arms across his chest as the wind picked up. He ducked his head down and started down the street. Where was he going? He wasn't really sure, but anywhere that wasn't his house was fine by him.

Gods, he felt stupid. Why couldn't Gobber just sign for him to get his visa? Gobber was there for him more than his dad had ever been! Or, maybe he should have just forged his dad's signature…

Hiccup glanced down and recognized his own, unique footprints along the sidewalk. He looked up and realized he was just down the block from Astrid's house.

He shrugged to himself. Astrid would probably be pissed off as much as him once she heard about this…

But did he really want to tell her? She might think it was her fault or something, that her telling him to push about the application to his dad caused this whole fiasco. Maybe he should just keep the dumb argument to himself.

He kept walking, his metal prosthetic clinking quietly against the pavement.

When was the last time he'd run away like this? It must have been years now. Even if he doesn't tell Astrid what happened with his dad, she'd still want to know why he was back at her place so soon after leaving.

He took a deep breath as he walked back up to the door of her house and knocked.

A shuffling noise sounded before the door swung open and Astrid poked her head out.

"Wha-Hiccup?" Astrid eyed him, confused. "Did you forget something-"

Her face fell as she gave Hiccup a once-over. He must have looked about as bad as he felt, because she suddenly looked concerned, asking, "Oh, my Gods! Are you okay?"

Hiccup shrugged, responding with a monotone,

"I doubt it."

Astrid grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.

"What's wrong? What happened?" she asked, shutting the door behind them. "Do you want to talk about-"

"Not really," Hiccup cut her off, his voice sounding more gravelly than he'd intended. "Can I stay the night?"

Astrid blinked.

"What?" she bit her lip and glanced around. "O-of course! Just, uhh, go on upstairs. Let me just talk to my folks for a sec…but, yeah!"

Hiccup sighed. He really shouldn't be putting stress on her like this. But he just didn't know what to do anymore. Honestly, Hiccup could use a hug right now...

He stepped over and wrapped his arms around her in a lazy hug.

"Thank you, Astrid," he mumbled into her hair.

"Uhh, sure!" she replied, moving a hand to pat him on the back a little awkwardly. "No problem…"

Hiccup couldn't see it, but the worried expression on Astrid's face only deepened the longer the hug lasted.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, Hiccup. It'll get better soon...hopefully. Hahahaha~~


	7. Snack Size

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: This is seriously late. Over two weeks late, actually. I'm so sorry about that. I don't have any particular reason for it being late outside of sheer laziness and the lack of motivation to just get it done. :/ Again, sorry about that. I'll do my best to get the next one up by next Friday like I'm supposed to!
> 
> I do not own any rights to the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**Penpals - Chapter Seven**

* * *

**Chapter Seven - Snack Size**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 2120**

**Warnings: None...well, I did imply that Google wasn't perfect, so...**

* * *

_Jack's POV_

* * *

Jack rubbed his eye with his sleeve lazily as he walked into the media center. He glanced over at the librarian still on duty, but she didn't seem to notice he was there. That worked for him, though. He just needed to check his e-mail real quick before picking up his sister from school.

Jack slid his backpack off his shoulder and dropped into the floor, leaving it in front of the door before stepping into the computer lab. He walked up to the nearest computer along the wall and wiggled the mouse, not bothering to sit down. He leaned over the pushed-in chair and logged in to the school's server, and then his school e-mail soon after.

Sure enough, Hiccup's reply was waiting for him in his inbox. Jack looked up at the clock on the wall. There wasn't enough time for him to read and translate the message before school tomorrow. Without even giving it much thought, he hit the Print Screen button and sent the e-mail to the printer.

At least, this way, he'd have some homework to do tonight.

He logged off and stepped over to the large printer, grabbing the only piece of paper it had printed out. Jack quickly folded it up and shoved it in his hoodie pocket and walked back to the door, picking up his backpack and pushing open the door to get out of the media center quietly.

Jack dashed across the street, dodging the stray kids and adults walking in the opposite direction along the crosswalk. He skidded to a stop, looking around for his little sister. A tug on his sleeve made him turn around and he smiled down at the familiar brunette.

"Hey, kiddo!" he smiled, out of breath.

Emma pulled back her hand and placed her hands on her hips, sternly remarking,

"You're late."

Jack bit back a laugh at her ridiculous expression.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, rubbing at his neck. "Sorry. I just had to get some homework after school."

Emma's face softened.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked. "What kind of homework?"

Jack stepped around her, hastily taking out the now-crumpled paper from his pocket as they started walking back home.

"Uhh, it was just Hiccup's letter."

Emma smiled wide and reached out for the paper.

"Ooh! I wanna read it!" she exclaimed.

Jack held the paper up above his head with a smirk.

"Well, too bad," he teased, "I gotta translate it first!"

"Let me try and translate it! I bet I can do it!" Emma laughed as she jumped up and grabbed onto Jack's arm, pulling it down and snatching the letter from him. Jack simply rolled his eyes.

"Go right ahead," he remarked. "I hate translating those things."

Emma unfolded the paper, replying,

"It's probably not even that hard."

Jack scoffed,

"Well, let's see  _you_  just pick up another language that nobody even knows-"

"Hey, I can read this part!" Emma interrupted, scrunching up her nose and staring closely at the paper as she read aloud, "...fall...fall down a lot? That is a sport I am good at! See?"

"What?" Jack deadpanned, "Give me that!"

He furrowed his eyebrows, reaching over and taking the letter back from her. There was no way in Hell his sister knew how to read Icelandic.

"I saw the word girlfriend on there, too," Emma added, turning to her brother as he scanned the letter in disbelief. "What were you guys talking about?"

Jack's eyes widened. Halfway down the page, the gibberish language turned to perfect English. Well, not  _perfect_ , but better than Google could do, anyway.

"This..." Jack let out a laugh. "Pfft, it switches to English, like halfway through!" He turned the letter around to show his sister and pointed near the middle. "Like, right in the middle of the sentence! Look at that."

Emma giggled,

"That's funny," she smirked before asking, "Does he already know English, Jack?"

"I don't know..." Jack responded, holding the paper back up to his face. "I guess I'll have to ask him in my next letter, though, huh?"

This was unexpected, but it didn't take him long to realize what this meant. With the language barrier gone, he could start talking to Hiccup more freely, and that meant he could try making this cool, foreign guy his new friend sooner than he'd planned.

Jack grinned. He liked the sound of that...

* * *

 

"Hey, North?" Jack asked, picking up the stack of plates waiting to be placed on the table. "Can I borrow your laptop? I just need to write Hiccup back and I can't get into my e-mail from mine-"

"You can have computer after dinner, Jack," North replied, stirring a wooden spoon in the pot on the stove.

"Cutting it a little close this week, aren't you?" Tooth noted from beside North, pulling out the silverware drawer and taking out a handful of forks.

"Hey, there's a delay between continents," Jack smirked, balancing the plates and using his back to open the swinging door to the dining room. "It's not like it could be  _my_  fault."

He heard North chuckle as Tooth followed him into the other room to set the table.

"How are you doing with the project, anyway, Jack?" Tooth questioned curiously. "Is Finnish too hard for you?"

Jack grimaced.

"It's  _Icelandic_ ," he corrected. "And, no, it is  _not_!"

"Yeah," Emma chimed in, scooping her homework off the table and into her backpack, "'specially when it's not in a different language!"

Tooth raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Emma snickered, continuing,

"Jack said that his pen pal wrote in-"

As she turned to look at Jack, he dropped the last plate onto the table and put his hand over his sister's mouth.

"Uhh, wh-what she means is..." He glanced down at Emma and then back at Tooth, both giving him confused looks. "Uhm, Hiccup-you know, my pen pal-wrote  _to_  me about...uhh...parkour! Yeah! But since that's, like, an English word, he used it in English instead of Icelandic, you know? So, yeah, we were talking about it and he knows all about it now. It's cool."

Jack cringed at his own lame excuse. Was that really the best he could do?

Tooth continued to eye him a moment, but she soon smiled warmly, beaming,

"Oh! Well, that's great to hear, Jack! It's nice to see you making a good friend."

Jack let out a nervous laugh and glanced back down at his unamused sister.

"Haha...yeah," he looked back at Tooth. "Just, uhh, excuse us for a second."

He then dropped his hand, only to pull Emma through the door into the foyer.

Emma pouted instantly.

"Meanie!" She grumbled, tossing her backpack against the wall and watching it slide to the floor. "What'd you do that for?"

Jack ran a hand through his hair anxiously.

"You can't tell Tooth about the whole thing with Hiccup writing in English," he told her, getting straight to the point.

Emma tilted her head to the side, asking,

"Why not? It's funny!"

Jack knelt down to look his sister in the eye.

"I get that," he replied quietly, "but it's supposed to be my homework to translate what he says to English, and they might...I don't know, change the rules or make me do extra work, or something, if they find out that Hiccup already writes in English."

Emma frowned,

"...but," she tried.

"Please, Emma?" Jack pleaded. "No telling Tooth, or North,  _especially_  not Bunny-no telling  _any_  grownups. Okay?"

He didn't know for sure what would happen if anyone found out, but he couldn't help but assume the worst, based on past experience. The last thing he wanted right now was to screw up this new potential friendship with someone who actually knew he existed, and if that meant pacifying his sister to do it, then so be it.

Emma looked displeased, but she just nodded rigidly.

"...okay," she huffed. "But I wanna play Mario Kart tonight."

Jack grinned. Mission accomplished. Now,  _appeasement_  he could handle!

"You got yourself a deal," he told her, standing back up.

"And I get to be Yoshi this time!" Emma added quickly.

Jack rubbed his chin thoughtfully, remarking,

"You drive a hard bargain...but I accept."

Emma giggled, skipping a little as she swung open the door back to the dining room.

* * *

 

Jack let his head fall back against the wall in his room. North's clunky laptop sat in front of him on his bed, his completed e-mail still on the screen.

This was-what?-his third letter to Hiccup he'd be sending, right? Should he really be pushing the friendship thing right now?

Jack shook his head. That was how it was supposed to work, so there was nothing wrong with just outright asking...right?

Jack shut his eyes, groaning pathetically to himself. Why was making friends so hard? This guy was almost 3,000 miles away and yet Jack  _still_  couldn't make a solid connection with him.

What was wrong with him? Maybe he was just defective...especially in the friend-making department. That would make sense.

But this was his chance, right? If he could hit it off with this Iceland kid, he could start opening up and maybe making friends closer to home, too. And then, in the end, everyone will want to be his friend and he'll have so many, he won't even be able to remember any of their names!

Jack felt himself smile.

"Yeah,  _that'll_  be the day…" he muttered to himself.

The door creaked and Jack tilted his head back down to see it open and his little sister peek out from behind.

"Hey, Jack?" She called cautiously, looking around before finally noticing him on his bed.

Jack sat up, responding quickly,

"Oh, hey, come on in. I was just finishing up, then we can plug the game in..."

He leaned forward and moved his finger on the touchpad to click Send. Oh, wait, he hadn't spell-checked that yet. Well...too late now.

"You're still doing your homework?" Emma asked, seeming surprised.

Jack chuckled and closed the laptop.

"Not anymore."

Emma giggled and walked into the room, and Jack swung his legs over the bed and stood up, stepping over to the small TV to set up their game.

He pulled out the Wii console and plugged the cord into the back of the tube TV and then leaned back to press the Power button on the television and the console simultaneously.

"There we go," Jack said as the TV lit up, displaying the Nintendo logo. He picked up the two Wii controllers from their chargers and handed one to his sister, plopping down next to her with a grin.

Emma grabbed the controller, and then glanced up at her brother curiously, asking,

"So, what did you write to Hiccup about this time?"

Jack flipped through the menu screens, pursing his lips in thought.

"Uhh..." He started, still looking at the TV, "well, I talked to him about running and parkour, that sort of thing."

Emma smiled.

"I think Hiccup is a good friend for you, Jack."

Jack turned, eyeing her a moment.

"You don't know anything about the guy, Emma," he stated bluntly.

How could she be so certain of something like that? He was never that blindly optimistic when he was her age... Then again, he didn't have any friends back then, either.

"Well, neither do  _you_!" Emma retorted, pressing the buttons on her controller to pick her character.

"Yeah, but I actually get to talk to him," Jack smarted at her, but she seemed unfazed.

"And I think if he likes it when you talk about your boring racing stuff, I think he is gonna be your best friend forever!" She added, turning to smile up at him.

Jack blinked. She  _did_  have a good point there. Hiccup didn't seem like he was dreading talking to Jack. In fact, he almost seemed excited to talk to him. Maybe Emma was right; maybe Hiccup would make a good friend for him? Man, he certainly hoped so.

Jack smirked, elbowing Emma in the shoulder as he joked,

"So, you think racing is  _boring_ , huh? Well, I'm just gonna have to prove to you how not-boring it is!"

He clicked through to the next screen on his controller, instantly selecting the Rainbow Road track.

"Ahhh! You can't start on  _that_  course!" Emma whined, elbowing Jack back.

He just laughed and pressed Start.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I never have to use the word "English" that many times in a chapter ever again…


	8. Someday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Look who finally updated! Haha, whoops! Hope you guys like cliffhangers~~
> 
> Also, this chapter is kinda short. Sorry about that.
> 
> I do not own the rights to any characters from How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**PenPals - Chapter Eight**

* * *

**Chapter Eight - Someday**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 1460**

**Warnings: Some Language, INTRODUCTION OF HTTYD2 SPOILERS (yep, here it comes)**

* * *

"Oh, wow," Hiccup stared blankly at his laptop screen. "I'm an idiot."

They were sitting in the dimly-lit classroom, Astrid and Hiccup at the front of the class, as per usual. Astrid leaned back in her desk chair to smirk over at him.

"That realization finally sunk in, huh?" She teased.

Hiccup closed his eyes, keeping himself from rolling his eyes at her.

"Oh,  _har har_ ," he retorted in monotone. "You're so funny, Astrid."

Her smirk fell and she gave him a playful nudge to the shoulder.

"I was just trying to get you to smile," she told him, leaning forward to look at his screen. "Come on, what did you do now?"

Hiccup heaved a quiet sigh and swiped at his screen, showing his last sent e-mail to his pen pal, Jack.

"Looks like I must've written part of my last letter to Jack in English..." He explained, swiping his screen back to show Jack's reply e-mail.

Astrid shook her head.

"Way to go, Hiccup," she remarked. "Isn't that, like, the opposite of what we're supposed to do?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Hiccup defended, turning to her.

"I know, I know," Astrid waved him off, adjusting back into her seat. "But what's the big deal? Just go back to Icelandic and forget about it."

Hiccup turned back to his computer, his eyes slowly scanning over the e-mail again before speaking up,

"But..."

"But?" Astrid asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hiccup tightened his lips, just staring at his screen.

"He  _knows_  I know English now," he replied.

"And?" Astrid added.

"Well," Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to look over the letter, "wouldn't it be easier to actually have a conversation with him if there wasn't the whole 'homework' aspect in the way?"

Astrid shrugged, responding,

"Well, maybe for you, yeah. But the guy's halfway across the globe, Hiccup. It's not like you'd have much time to talk anyway, right?"

Hiccup glanced over at her, frowning.

"Yeah...I guess," he replied.

Astrid watched as his gaze returned to his computer screen, and he rested his head in his hand, continuing to read. After a moment, she noticed the corner of his mouth twitch before he gave a half-smile to the screen. The first time he'd smiled all day and it was thanks to some stranger all the way in America?

* * *

It had taken a while for Hiccup to decide what to write back to Jack. The way his pen pal had gone into vivid detail about something as simple as running...it was like it wasn't just some sport, but it was an experience. And Jack? Someone who could do something as incredible as turning words into beautiful depictions would be the best person to help him figure out this new world he would be visiting soon. He was so lucky to have Jack as his pen pal...so, he told him that. Hiccup felt himself smiling for the first time that day as he replied to his e-mail-this time, completely in English.

If you want to be friends with someone, praise is always a good place to start, right?

* * *

"So..." Astrid slid her desk over in front of Hiccup's, setting down her lunch bag between them and sitting down. "I noticed you didn't take my advice."

Hiccup glanced up at her, swallowing the piece of food he'd been chewing. He scrunched up his nose, asking,

"On what?"

"On your penpal letter," she replied.

"Oh...yeah," Hiccup set down his sandwich and sat back in his chair. "It'd just be easier to ask about American stuff that way, I guess."

"Is that what this is about? But I thought-" Astrid paused, leaning forward with a concerned look on her face. "You haven't even gone back home yet."

Hiccup didn't respond.

Astrid whispered,

"Hiccup, you should talk to your dad-"

"Yeah, well," he grumbled, "maybe I  _would_  if he could make up his mind about anything."

Astrid leaned back, unsure what to say. Hiccup sunk in his own chair, not meaning to turn their conversation sour so quickly.

"He called again last night," Astrid finally said.

Hiccup looked down at his lunch.

"I know."

"He said he was sorry."

"I don't care."

Astrid sighed.

"You have to go back home, Hiccup," she told him.

Hiccup glanced away.

"I know," he replied calmly. "I just...I don't know what I'm gonna say."

Astrid bit her lip. She opened her mouth to speak, but she hesitated. Hiccup glanced over at her again, waiting to hear what she had to say. She exhaled and slammed her fist down on the desk.

"You don't have to say anything, you know," she told him sternly. "It wasn't even your fault this happened! The way I see it, let your dad do the talking. He obviously has something to say."

Hiccup straightened in his seat, a little shocked at Astrid's sudden outburst, before replying,

"Yeah, but I'm not entirely sure I want to hear it."

"You have to try, Hiccup," Astrid tried one last time. Hiccup just picked up his sandwich again. He was done talking.

Astrid opened up her lunch bag, pulling out a thermos and a tupperware container. She started twisting off the cap of the thermos as Hiccup stopped eating, speaking up suddenly.

"What if…"

Astrid stopped, glancing over at him again, staying quiet.

Hiccup dropped the sandwich.

"What if he won't listen?" he said, eyes glazed over as he looked at her. "What if I can't change his mind? What am I gonna do, Astrid? I can't stay here. I really can't."

He sucked in a shaky breath, and Astrid set down her thermos, responding,

"Then, you won't. And  _tell him that_."

Hiccup sat up as Astrid continued opening her lunch, telling him,

"You're old enough to make your own decisions, or, at least, you  _will_  be soon. Tell him that it's what you want. It's for your future. He'll understand that."

Hiccup sighed.

"...I really hope you're right."

* * *

After the bell rang, Hiccup scooted out of his desk chair and walked to the back of the classroom, gathering his bag and jacket. He got out of the building as quickly as possible, stepping off the curb and into the street before Astrid could catch up with him.

"You gonna do it?" she asked, walking in step with him as they reached the other side of the street.

Hiccup gave her a weak grin, replying,

"Yeah. If it goes well, I'll stop by tomorrow and pick up my stuff."

Astrid smiled back.

"Good luck," she told him before veering off down a different street to head to her house.

"Yeah," he called out to her. "See ya, Astrid!"

* * *

Hiccup stepped up onto the porch, jostling the doorknob before reaching into his pocket to pull out his house keys. As he started putting the key in, he heard the phone ring from the other side of the door.

He turned the key in the lock and opened the door, looking around.

"Uhh, Dad?" he called out. "You gonna get that?"

The phone continued to ring, so he let his bag drop off his shoulder and he stepped over to the phone hanging on the kitchen wall and picked it up off the receiver.

"...hello?" he answered.

"Good afternoon," a female voice on the other line spoke up. "Is Mr. Haddock available?"

Hiccup glanced around, replying,

"Uhh, I guess he isn't home yet. But, I can take a message if you want."

"Yes, alright," the woman responded. "This is Dr. Corona, calling from the Arendelle Psychiatric Hospital. He requested we contact him when his wife was ready to come home. Just let him know Mrs. Haddock can be picked up from the visitation center anytime between 9 and 6 over the next two days."

Hiccup gripped the phone, the words the caller was saying didn't make any sense.

"...wait, what?" he asked shakily.

"His wife, Valka Haddock-she's been prepped to return home this weekend," the woman repeated. "I know it's a long drive from Berk, but if he can at least make it by 7, we'll allow him to pick her up from the visitor's center."

Hiccup dropped the phone and it clattered to the floor.

"Hello?" he heard the woman on the line call out. "Are you still there? Hello?"

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, finally dropped that bomb. Now, to get on with the actual hijack stuff...


	9. Staying Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: I'm back with another update~ I actually finished the next chapter first, so maybe a double-update today will get you guys to forgive me?
> 
> \--
> 
> I do not own any rights to the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**Penpals - Chapter Nine**

* * *

** Chapter Nine - Staying Up **

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 2196**

**Warnings: Some Language**

* * *

_Jack's POV_

* * *

“Ughhh,” Jack groaned into his hands, slouching back into the uncomfortable chair in the computer lab. He’d been re-reading Hiccup’s most recent e-mail for the past half-hour, but he still couldn’t think of anything to say back to him. Should he say thank you for the compliments? Should he try to think of a way to compliment him back? But what would he compliment him about? He didn’t know what Hiccup even looked like… Maybe he could look around on Google to see if there was a photo of him somewhere? Would it be creepy if he did that?

He let his hands slide off his face and smack against the keyboard.

Of course it would be creepy. Who would do that? Not a friend...well, at least, he didn’t think so. There had to be  _something_  he could say...

“Having trouble, Jack?”

He looked up as Tooth stepped around him, looking concerned.

“I just can’t figure out what to say back to Hiccup,” he told her honestly.

Tooth pulled out the chair from the computer desk next to him and took a seat.

“I thought you two were doing well?” she questioned, still seeming concerned.

Jack frowned in return.

“Wha--we ARE!” Jack cringed as his voice cracked, and he turned back to the screen in front of him. “I’m just stuck right now.”

He sighed. Yes, he and Hiccup were ‘doing well’ in terms of being pen pals that actually wrote to each other like they were supposed to, but there still hadn’t been a breakthrough between them. Tooth had gone on and on about how Jack was going to make great friends with his pen pal, and yet...it’d been weeks now, and they’d only finally stopped talking about stupid, boring, mundane garbage and started getting to know each other. Jack needed more, and preferably soon. He needed Hiccup to like him back. As a friend. Because he needed friends. Yeah.

Tooth leaned over and took a peek at the screen, saying,

“Why don’t you let me take a look at it?”

Jack sat back and pushed the screen away from her view. She sat up and eyed him with suspicion.

“What?” she asked.

He glanced over at the screen and then back at her quickly, replying,

“Uhh, it’s nothing!”

He continued to hold the computer monitor as Tooth’s eyes narrowed, scrutinizing him. Did she know about the whole ‘Hiccup writing in English’ thing? Would she tell on him? Who would she tell, anyway? Isn’t she the one in charge of this project? What would she do if she found out?

He swallowed. Suddenly, not knowing seemed even more terrifying than the question.

She flashed a quick smile before reaching over to pull the screen back.

“Jack, just let me see--”

“NO!” Jack shouted, pulling it away even further, turning it around and nearly pushing it off the desk. Tooth sat up straight, surprised by his sudden outburst.

Jack gulped, trying to keep the monitor--and himself--from falling as he continued,

“I can handle it, Tooth. Really. It’s fine.”

Tooth pulled her hands back into her lap, giving Jack a look he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before.

“...okay,” she finally replied, standing up slowly.

“I’m just gonna...do it at home,” Jack told her, pushing the screen back in its place and closing out of everything.

Tooth sighed in frustration.

“Again?”

“Yeah.”

Jack logged off the computer and pushed his seat back to stand up with her.

“You know,” Tooth began to lecture, “the other students don’t have the luxury of doing this project at home whenever they want, Jack. You shouldn’t be taking advantage like that.”

Jack stepped over and pushed his chair in, ducking his head solemnly, responding,

“Right. Sorry.”

Tooth eyed him suspiciously again before shaking her hand and walking back around the computer lab. Jack exhaled loudly and briskly walked back out into the media center, happy to have gotten clear of that whole situation.

* * *

After finishing his chores, sitting at the dinner table restlessly for forty whole minutes, and finally receiving permission to borrow North’s laptop, Jack tucked the computer and its charger cord under his arm and rushed upstairs, ready to finally write that reply to Hiccup.

He pushed open the door to his room and quickly hooked up the charger to the outlet next to his nightstand before setting up shop on top of his bed. He logged in, opened the email, hit Reply, and took a deep breath.

“Alright, time to do this… Time to…” Jack breathed, his hands hovering over the keyboard. “Come on, Jack. You can do it.”

He stared at the blank message window with a determined scowl. He could do this. He just had to get started, and then it would flow and he’d be done in no time at all.

He let his hands rest on the keyboard, but they didn’t move. His mind just couldn’t think of anything to say.

Maybe he needed some inspiration? He scooted back, leaving the laptop on the bed and standing up. He walked to the door, skipped down the spiral staircase and made a beeline down the next two floors and into the kitchen. He stepped up to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of soda, twisting the cap open before walking back into the sitting room. As he passed the adults watching TV, he glanced down at the soda in his hand and stopped before turning around to go grab five more sodas.

Jack snuck back upstairs to his room and dropped the bottles on his bed, sitting back down and staring at the laptop screen again.

He took a sip of the soda in his hand and finally pulled the laptop onto his lap, getting to work.

He figured he should just start off simple. Don't act too surprised about getting such a compliment. Maybe he should act confident? Didn't he read somewhere that people liked being friends with confident people? That could work.

One bottle down, he cracked open another and kept going.

Maybe he should ask about how Hiccup learned English? That wasn't too boring a subject, right? But it was a "we’re just penpals" question, not a "we should start totally being best buds" kind of question.

Second bottle gone, time for the third.

Jack ignored the clock at the bottom of the screen, trying not to notice how long this was taking him. It didn't matter how slow he went, as long as he got it done...right?

He clicked back to the message Hiccup had sent. He really needed to address the compliment. But, you know, in a cool way.

What was he supposed to say, though?

Oh, what harm really was there in shooting a compliment right back at him? Hell, if Hiccup was gonna mildly-flirt with him, he may as well return the favor. That's how friendship worked, after all.

Three bottles down.

He typed up the rest of the message, grinning widely. This just went from a serious return letter to the stupidest, cheesiest thing he'd ever written.

As he emptied the fourth bottle of soda and threw it across the room, he sat back, not even bothering to suppress his laughter as he read over the finished message, even his tacked-on P.S. note.

There was no way he was ever actually sending this to Hiccup, but, WOW, that was a heck of a trip. He wondered what Hiccup would do if he did just press Send right then. What would he think?

Jack shook his head. He'd think he was crazy, obviously. There was no doubt in his mind about that. But crazy could be a good thing sometimes, right? He was sure he could think of a time when it has been...

His stomach rumbled loudly for a second and he paused, looking down. Yikes, maybe downing all that soda wasn't the smartest move.

He bit his lip, wincing in pain as he realized he actually bit  _into_  it and the taste of blood spilled onto his tongue. Well, crap, now he's got _two_  problems!

“Oh, shit--” He pushed the laptop off his lap and onto the bed, jumping up and running to the door in a flash. He clambered down the spiral steps and down the hall towards the bathroom. His sister stepped out of the bathroom just as he pushed his way inside.

"Ah!" She screeched, barely stepping into the hallway as Jack slammed the door behind him. "Jack! Watch where you're goin'!"

"Sorry!" Jack shot back quickly from the other side of the door. "Gotta pee!"

"Ew,  _gross_!" She grimaced, "Don't tell me that!"

She giggled, running down the hall towards the staircase that led to Jack's room. She skipped up the steps and walked into the bedroom, sticking out her tongue in disgust when she noticed all the empty bottles lying around.

She stepped inside, spying her dad's laptop on Jack's bed and walking over to it.

"Huh?" She climbed up on the bed to look over the screen a moment before shaking her head with a smile. "Silly Jack; he forgot to push Send!"

She pushed the button to send the e-mail and sat up before clicking into a new tab.

* * *

Jack entered his bedroom again, frowning at the sight of all the bottle lying everywhere before looking over and realizing his sister was lying on her stomach on his bed, her face glowing from the laptop screen sitting close to her face.

"...Emma?" He eyed her, walking over. "What are you doing?"

"Playing School of Dragons," Emma replied happily, kicking her feet behind her.

"On North's laptop?" He questioned.

"Daddy said I could play after you were finished with it," she told him, looking up at him with her big smile.

Jack scrunched up his nose, reaching out to the computer, saying,

"But, I hadn't sent the--"

"I sent it for you!" Emma smiled earnestly before returning to her game.

Jack's face instantly fell. Or was that his stomach?

"You WHAT?!"

Emma eyed him oddly, replying matter-of-factly,

"You forgot, so I clicked the send button and closed out of it for you. Now I'm playing with my dragon!"

“Oh, my God. You actually sent that?” Jack felt his mouth just gape open. “To Hiccup? Hiccup’s actually going to  _read that_? Oh, God-- OH, MY GOD--”

Did he just forget how to breathe? Because it felt like he just forgot how to breathe.

“Wh-- _Jack_? What’s the matter?” Emma questioned, looking up at him with concern.

Jack stepped back, bringing a hand up to his forehead.

“N-nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he told her, his eyes darting around the room. “It’s not like I totally just ruined my life or anything-- Why did I even write that in the first place?! Oh, God, he’s actually going to read that!”

He started pacing around his room and Emma sat up on the bed, frowning.

“Jack, I’m sorry!”

Jack stopped in his tracks and immediately turned on his heel, stepping right up to her and kneeling down to look her in the eye.

“No, no, no, no, it’s not--” he sucked in a breath. “That wasn’t your fault, Emma. Thank you...for sending that e-mail for me. I totally forgot about that.”

“But you seem  _really_  upset that I did it…” Emma replied, gripping the sheets with her hands.

Jack shook his head.

“No, no, I’m not upset,” he told her. “I just...said something really stupid in that letter and now Hiccup will probably laugh at me for it.”

God, that was putting it lightly.

“That’s not true!” Emma spoke up, scooting over to let her legs hang off the side of the bed. She bent down and looked Jack in the eye, mirroring him from before. “Hiccup is your friend.”

“...well, maybe not so much anymore,” Jack responded, frowning.

Emma kicked her feet a moment before offering,

“You wanna play a round of eel roasting? It’ll make you feel better!”

Jack gave a weak smile before standing up and petting the top of his sister’s head, ruffling her hair until it started to stick up.

“Thanks, but...I’m good. Why don’t you take North’s laptop and…” He leaned over and squinted at the screen, “uhh, Nightlight the dragon downstairs, okay?”

Emma reached up and flattened her hair.

“Okay…” she said, and sat back to pick up the laptop and take it with her as she jumped back down from the bed and walked out of the room, giving Jack a quick look of remorse before going out the door.

Jack didn’t even wait for the door to close; he just plopped down face-first into his mattress, letting out a muffled, “ _Fuck_.”

* * *

 


	10. Vindicator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \--  
> Author’s Notes: Everyone keeps asking about being able to read the letters Hiccup and Jack are sending to each other, so just know this--SOON, I WILL BE POSTING A SIDE-FIC CALLED PENPALS: LETTERS! It will contain ONLY the e-mails Hiccup and Jack have sent to each other (because I have them written, but they just wouldn’t fit well with my writing style to put them in the story). They will begin IM-ing soon, so once that starts in the story, I will post the side-fic! Be sure to check it out~~
> 
> \--
> 
> I do not own the rights to any characters from How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

**PenPals - Chapter Ten**

\--

**Chapter Ten - Vindicator**

**Pairing: Hijack**

**Word Count: 1645**

**Warnings: Some Language, HTTYD2 SPOILERS (mild, most are my own fanon specifically for this story), Stoick and Hiccup are arguing throughout his whole chapter**

\--

He waited. Well, he paced the entirety of the house, but he waited. What else was he supposed to do? His dad had been acting weird lately, and now, he knew why.

Hiccup forced himself to sit down on the couch in the living room, his right knee still bouncing impatiently.

His mom was still alive. How was that even possible?

His mind just reeled at the mere thought. His mother was alive. All these years, and she hadn’t died in some mysterious way. She’d just been...institutionalized? For some reason?

He shook his head. There were so many questions he was going to have to ask his dad.

 _His dad_. Oh, was he gonna give it to him good when he got home. How dare he keep this from him! What was that all about, anyway? What kind of person lies about their mother being _alive_ for 15 years?

He turned his head as he heard a rustling at the door and the doorknob rattle.

“Hiccup? You home?” he heard his father called out.

Hiccup sat perfectly still, narrowing his eyes and fixing a glare on Stoick as the large man set his coat on the rack hanging in the kitchen and turned toward the living room.

Stoick squinted, stepping into the room before reaching over and flipping on a light switch.

“What are ya doing sitting here in the dark?” he asked, confused.

“Oh, you know, just contemplating life,” Hiccup replied, throwing his hands about dramatically, “and how it’s always full of _lies_.”

Stoick shook his head, rolling his eyes and taking a seat next to his son.

“Is there something ya need to tell me, Hiccup?”

Hiccup gritted his teeth. He was just going to sit here and pretend nothing was going on?

Hiccup stood up, turning around quickly and eyeing his father incredulously.

“Is there something you need to tell _me_ , Dad?” he mocked.

Stoick eyed him right back.

“What has gotten into you?” he asked, clearly still confused.

Hiccup threw his hands up.

“Really? _Really_?” he cried out. “This has absolutely nothing to do with me, Dad. This is all you and you not _telling me the truth_.”

Stoick’s face hardened a moment, as though he suddenly knew what he was getting at. But Hiccup wasn’t just going to stop there.

“You missed a call, _Dad_ ,” he told him. “Some nice doctor-lady, works at a psychiatric hospital. Said that _Mom_ is ready to come _home_? Does that ring any bells with you?!”

Stoick looked away, not saying anything.

Hiccup glared down at him.

“What were you gonna do?” he shouted. “Just show up here with Mom--SURPRISE! She’s not _dead_?!”

“I never said she was dead,” his father defended quietly.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, defending back,

“You never said she _wasn't_! Any time I asked about her, you shut me out, Dad! You never told me _anything_  about her!”

“You were too young. You weren’t ready--”

“What? And I’m _still_ not?” Hiccup stepped over, looking his father in the eye. “I’m 16, Dad! I looked up-- I looked up that hospital online. I _know_ what schizophrenia is, Dad! You can’t just keep me here, sheltering me from the world, telling me all these...these _lies_!”

Stoick finally looked back up at him, and Hiccup kept going.

“I’m going to find a way. I’m going to leave, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Not now.”

“Hiccup--” Stoick tried.

“It’s too late for excuses,” Hiccup told him bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Stoick ran a hand down his face.

“Will you at least…” he sighed heavily. “Just give it some time, please? Let your mother see you.”

Hiccup faltered as his father looked up at him, looking on the verge of tears.

“They think she might do better if she has you in her life again,” he continued. “Just stay a while longer...until we can figure this out. _Please_ , son.”

Hiccup bit the inside of his cheek. This wasn’t going to work on him.

“How can you just--” he shook his head, finally just turning away. “Why couldn’t you have told me sooner? I would’ve understood.”

“I told you,” Stoick replied, “you weren’t ready.”

“But I could’ve been!” Hiccup remarked, looking back. “I could’ve handled it!”

“Son…”

Hiccup bit his lip into a frown. Was this really the best he could do?

“I just…don’t understand. Why couldn’t you just tell me? Why did it have to be some big secret? _Why_?”

Stoick sighed.

“It’s complicated,” he told him. “I promise, someday, I’ll explain, but… I just can’t right now.”

Hiccup glared.

“You still think I’m not ready for it?” he yelled. “Dad, you can’t just string this out! If she’s coming here-- You either tell me _everything_ or I’m not staying here anymore. I will leave the _first_ chance I get!”

He glanced over, realizing he had stuck his hand out to point at the kitchen door. He was serious. He could easily just up and leave right now, if he really wanted. It wasn’t like anything was holding him back, anyway, right?

“Alright, alright,” Stoick put up his hands defensively. “Settle down.”

He motioned to the seat on the couch next to him.

“Just...come ‘ere,” he told Hiccup. “Sit.”

Hiccup was quiet, but he let his arms fall to his sides before stepping over to the couch and cautiously taking a seat. He didn’t look at his father, but he was willing to listen to him.

Stoick took a deep breath, leaning his head back to look at the ceiling.

“Your mother…” he started, his voice already very raspy. “She was sick, okay? She was very, very sick, and I took little notice of that. She was always wandering off or staying in...sometimes for days at a time. I never really knew it was a problem until… Well, there was an accident. With you.”

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows, glancing up at his dad.

“What?”

Stoick rubbed at his forehead, willing himself to keep going.

“I had come back from work late and she had left you down here, in the kitchen, all day, alone. You had gotten into something and cut yourself, just there,” he reached out and pointed at Hiccup’s chin, near his scar.

Hiccup’s face fell. Is that why he’d always had that?

“When I had talked to Val about it…” Stoick continued, pulling away. “Well, I realized it wasn’t the first time she’d left ya alone like that. I looked into what I had ta do. Thought about gettin’ you a sitter at some point, but Val wouldn’t have it. You were _her_  son, she said. No one could take better care of you than her…”

He sighed again, leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees.

“Ah, but, she didn’t. She wasn’t… She couldn’t do that for you. So, I had to…send her off. She didn’t go without a fight, though. Got me in the arm here,” he pointed at the scar on his right arm a moment, “and under my eye, too…”

That was the scar Hiccup knew well. It always made his dad look more intimidating than he really was. At least, to him, it did.

“And she about got you in the head before Gobber finally helped me get her away. The doctors said she’d probably never be back, so…I figured, given the circumstances...you ought not ta know what had really happened. Why she was really gone, ya know?”

“Dad...I--” Hiccup felt his voice crack. He felt like crying. That was terrible, but...he had done it for him. Hiccup could have been hurt if his dad hadn’t done that. He was just protecting him, like he’s always doing--like he’s always done.

“I understand that you want to go to the States, son,” Stoick turned to him, solemn. “The world is so big and vast, and Berk is so very small… But I’ve been given a chance to get our family back--a chance I’d never thought I’d get--and I need you to help make that happen.”

“I…” Hiccup choked. What could he even say now? “Thank you for telling me, Dad. Really. I mean, I still want to go and do the apprenticeship, but… I can stay. I mean, for now. At least until we figure it all out.”

His father visibly deflated, sinking back into the couch.

“Thank you,” he responded genuinely.

Hiccup reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, shooting his dad a quick smile.

“...see? I told you I was ready.”

Stoick glanced over, letting out a small laugh.

“Heh, I guess you were right.”

Hiccup sat back with his dad. Well, that went a whole lot better than he expected. Is this what happens when he actually demands answers from his father? Because, if so, he was going to have to do it more often...

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a new AU, so please review and let me know if you like it so far!
> 
> -Orb


End file.
